


Noah Puckerman

by PyretofSweden



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Glee
Genre: Crossover, Het, Multi, Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-11-20
Updated: 2013-02-14
Packaged: 2017-10-26 08:00:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/280665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PyretofSweden/pseuds/PyretofSweden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Noah Puckerman was born and raised in Lima, Ohio. But it was in Sunnydale, California, he grew up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I'm a Lima-Loser Baby

**Author's Note:**

> **Author:** PyretofSweden
> 
>  **Beta:** LolaAnn, MissE, and RevDorothyl.
> 
>  **Summary:** Puck was born and raised in Lima, Ohio. But it was in Sunnydale, California, he grew up.
> 
>  **Rating:** Teen and up, PG15-ish in some places.
> 
>  **Warnings:** Slash, Het, Violence,
> 
>  **Spoilers:** Up till s01e013 _Sectionals_ for Glee and the entire second season for Buffy.
> 
>  **Word count:** I really have no idea how long this monster will get.
> 
>  **Genre:** X-over,
> 
>  **Pairings/Characters:** Noah “Puck” Puckerman, Brittney Pierce, Rachel Berry, Mrs. Puckerman, Puck's Sister, Quinn Fabray, Ira Rosenberg, Willow Rosenberg, Xander Harris, Buffy Summers, Rupert Giles, Snyder, Cordelia Chase, Larry.
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** I am not making any money from this fanfiction. _Glee_ belongs to Ryan Murphy and the FOX network. _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ belongs to Joss Whedon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** The word count for this chapter is a meekly 993, thought you might want to know ;P
> 
> Because this chapter is so extremely short I will post the second chapter right after this one. But then it will probably be a while 'till the next one. I have 8 chapters finished, but I like to be ahead of the game so to speak =P
> 
> Reviews are love people! Tell me if you loved it, hated it, found mistakes or just want to chat. I'm always up for exchanging ideas or just discuss what we all love so much ;P

~*~*~*~

  
**  
Chapter One: I’m a Lima-Loser Baby   
**   


~*~*~*~

“Come, sit down, Noah.” His mother sat at the kitchen table, a smoke in one hand and a balled up tissue in the other. She’d been crying. Great. Puck heaved a deep sigh, like it was a hardship to sit with his awesome mother for a few minutes. He slumped in his chair, because he was badass and only nerds sit up straight, even though he was nervous as hell.

“I got a phone call from Mrs. Fabray today. Apparently you know her daughter?” Nice try, Ma. I’m not falling for that one.

“Yeah… I mean, Quinn was a Cheerio and is in Glee so, she’s kind of hard to miss. She’s a total babe.” Smirk.

“I know you’d like to think you’re tough, Noah. But this is your future we’re talking about! You’ve done some stupid things before, but this takes the cake! I’m sending you to your Uncle Ira in California. I hope he can get you to straighten up and _fly_ right! I’m too tired to try anymore.” His mother dried a tear off her cheek and took a long drag on her cigarette.

Puck just sat and stared at her for what felt like hours. His mother was sending him away! He felt a few seconds of guilt as he thought about all the shit he’d done, and what his mother must have gone through to get him out of it, but then he remembered that he was a badass, and badasses don’t care if their mothers cry.

“Ma! I can’t leave the team _now_! We’re on a roll.” Smirk. No-one needed to know which team he meant, but the win at Sectionals had really put a new spring in every Glee kids’ step.

“There is no discussion, Noah! You’re going and that’s final.” Another long drag; she’s going to get cancer if she keeps that up.

“When?” He didn’t want to admit it, but he was kind of apprehensive about the whole California thing. He had never been out of Lima before and now he was going clear across the country. He didn’t know how long he’d be gone and he didn’t want to ask his mother, because she might cry again. Not to mention all the weird California kids. He’d seen enough made-for-TV movies to know they were all a bunch of potheads and surfer-dudes.

“Saturday.” His mother got up and left the kitchen, probably to check on Miriam in her bedroom. She was a troublemaker too, not like Puck though, she was smart. She could be President.

Puck sat in that chair until his mother came back to start making dinner, then he went to his room to start packing. He was leaving on Saturday. Today was Thursday; tomorrow was going to be a bitch.

~*~

The next morning, Puck brought a big duffle bag to school. He had a lot of shit in his lockers. He considered the possibility of bringing his football-gear with him. It was his, after all. He’d paid for it. But he’d get that after school, no use lugging that around all day.

“Hey, Puck. Wow, that’s a really big bag. I bet you could put a lot of peanuts in it. You don’t have any peanuts in there, though, right? ‘Cause I’m very allergic.” Brittney stood behind him and he heaved a sigh. The girl was a total babe, but dumber than a box of rocks. He would feel bad for her if he wasn’t such a badass.

“Hey, Britt.” Puck shoved the huge bag in his locker, slammed the door shut and strutted away. He was badass, and that was what a badass would do. He went to the weight room, and stayed there until the last bell before Glee practice.

~*~

“I told them I talked to you, but they didn’t believe me because nobody saw you all day. Were you abducted by aliens? I heard that sometimes happens…” Brittney said as Puck strutted into the choir room five minutes late and in the middle of Mr. Schue’s challenge of the week pep-talk. Fuck he felt bad, not even Glee could cheer him up. He couldn’t do this.

“I’m leaving!” He turned around and was about to walk out the door when Rachel Berry caught his arm.

“You can’t leave! Where are you going? We just won Sectionals and we need you to win Regionals, if not for your talent then for your name on the roll call. We need 12 members, Noah!”

“Not my problem, I’m going to California. Good riddance, losers!” He shook Berry off his arm and continued out of the room. He didn’t get far before Quinn was running after him, calling his name.

“Puck! What the hell are you talking about? You’re really leaving? How can you leave me? Leave us? I thought you wanted to be here!” Puck hated it when chicks cried; he got really uncomfortable and could never figure out what to do with his hands. So he crossed his arms over his chest and glared.

“Who do you think you’re kidding, Quinn? We both know you’re going to give the baby up and even if I do want to be there for her, it doesn’t matter what I want. But this California thing is good. I’m a screw-up and I need to work on that. I can’t do that in Lima. Here I’m just another Lima-loser.” Puck let his arms fall, and for a second thought he was going to cry. He cleared his throat and started walking again, obviously not running away. He just needed to get out of there. He was almost looking forward to leaving. Not looking forward to going away, but ending this angst-fest everything had turned into.

“When are you coming back?” Quinn sobbed behind him.

“Don’t know.” Puck rounded the corner and didn’t look back, because Puck was a badass, and badasses don’t let their girlfriends see them on the verge of tears.

~*~*~*~

  
  
**End of Chapter One**   
  


~*~*~*~


	2. Leaving on a Tiny-Ass Plane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** The wordcount for this chapter is 1265. Not that long but longer than the first.
> 
>  **Beta:** LolaAnn and MissE, any remaining mistakes are mine.
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** I am not making any money from this fanfiction. _Glee_ belongs to Ryan Murphy and the FOX network. Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon.

~*~*~*~

  


  
**  
Chapter Two: Leaving on a Tiny-Ass Plane   
**   


  


~*~*~*~

The next day dawned cloudy and muggy. As if Puck didn’t feel bad enough already, the weather had to go and make him sweaty and uncomfortable to boot. His flight was taking off pretty early, and he would spend the bigger part of the day on either a plane or in an airport. He was grateful that he wouldn’t have to sit on the same plane all the way to California; the short layovers would save his sanity, what he had left of it anyway.

“Are you all packed, Noah?” His mother didn’t even bother to knock before she went into his room to get him out of bed. She was even bold enough to rip the blanket off him as she walked past to check his closet for things he might have neglected to pack. As if he couldn’t pack a bag, he was 16 years old for fuck’s sake!

“I’m packed, Ma! Get out!” Puck grumbled from under his pillow. He didn’t like to admit it but he was embarrassed to have his mother see him lying there, buck naked. He slept best when he didn’t have a stitch on him.

“Fine, get dressed and come to breakfast. We have to get going.” His mother left the door open a crack, like she didn’t trust him not to fall asleep again. Puck couldn’t blame her, really. He hadn’t done much to earn any kind of trust in a long time. He promised himself then that he would make an effort to change things when he got to California. No more screwing up for Noah Puckerman.

~*~

The drive to Allen County’s tiny airport was blissfully short, not a word was spoken. Puck thought that maybe that was for the best. His mother nagging him to behave and straighten up while at his uncle’s, was not something he wanted to suffer through this early in the morning. When they got there, Puck’s mother helped him carry his guitar case and his carry-on bag. That left Puck to lug his three heavy suitcases by himself. Miriam wasn’t any help at all. She kept wiping tears off her cheeks and that made Puck feel worse than he thought was ever possible. His sister was a pain in the ass, but he loved her more than anything. Who would protect her from bullies, and scare her future boyfriends, if he wasn’t there to do it?

They checked his bags, and Puck’s mother made sure that he wouldn’t have to re-check them at every lay-over, and then it was time to say their goodbyes. Puck hated goodbyes; that’s why he didn’t stick around at school the day before. He didn’t even say it to Quinn before he left her in the hall, sobbing her little drama-queen heart out. He’d just said “ _don’t know_ ” and was gone. He refused to feel guilty, because he was badass. He would never see that kid, and Quinn would get over it. He hoped Quinn would get over it.

He took his carry-on bag from his mother before he kissed his sister’s hair and gave her a one armed hug. She threw her little arms around him and though her grip was strong, it wasn’t firm enough to explain the sudden tightness in his chest. He pried her arms away from him and turned to go.

“Goodbye, Noah! Call when you get there, alright? I love you.” His mother said to his back, because even though he’d stopped when she started talking, he didn’t turn around. His shoulders were tense and hunched up almost all the way to his ears, and it was most definitely not tears that he felt burning his throat. If he wasn’t such a badass, he would have turned back and wrapped his mother in a big hug, because he loved her too. But since he was the baddest badass in Lima, he didn’t even acknowledge her words with a nod. He just slung his bag over his shoulder and walked away. He was good at that – walking away.

~*~

The plane was fucking tiny! Puck wasn’t in any way small, so the first hour of his trip was pure torture. The passengers were practically sitting in each other’s laps and there was not an inch more leg-space than, he would imagine, a person Berry’s size would need. And to top it all off, the person sitting next to him was totally fat! And a dude, _and_ he had an ugly mustache which looked like it doubled as a lunchbox. Disgusting. Puck tried to ignore the smell of sweat and onions coming from the guy, but it was difficult. He put his earphones in, hoping to, at least, drown out the annoying wheezing noise coming from the dude’s nose.

He leaned back against the backrest and closed his eyes. Imagining himself on stage, performing the song blaring in his ears – his favorite. The other glee kids were there too, backing him up and giving his vocals that extra push from awesome to totally fucking fantastic. A weight settled in his heart as he wondered if his new school even had a glee club. Then he wondered if he would want to join if they did. It wouldn’t be the same. Nothing would ever be the same, he knew that, and he felt like crying again.

He felt trapped on that tiny plane. There wasn’t even a bathroom for him to hide in. He wanted to punch something, scream. He wanted to belt his feelings out in an angry rock song and smash an amplifier at the end. He wanted to play his guitar and calm his nerves. He wanted off this fucking plane!

The hour it took to get from Ohio to Illinois seemed to drag on for years. Feeling more than a little relieved, he finally stepped onto the tarmac, happy to leave the plane and the stinky man behind. As he walked to the terminal, a light rain started and it seemed to wash all Puck’s anger and tension away. He felt as if he could breathe freely again. The rest of his flight was pretty uneventful, not one single interesting incident or noteworthy person during the whole time. It was fourteen hours of utter boredom and Puck never did get the hang of that ‘sitting still’ thing.

As they prepared for landing for the last time, Puck got reacquainted with his nerves again. It had been many years since he’d felt the flutter of anxious butterflies in his belly. He did not enjoy the feeling and he dealt with that the only way he knew how – by getting annoyed, very annoyed. By the time he reached the area for baggage claim, his nerves were in no better shape than before. Puck sort of wished that he was the kind of person who could take a few deep breaths and have every trace of nervousness be swept away like so much dust. But wishes were for losers, and Puck was a badass.

He conveniently forgot that badasses don’t get nervous over meeting their own family at an airport. It hadn’t even been that long ago since he’d seen them. Just last summer they had been in Lima to visit. His mother was fairly close with her brother, so Uncle Ira and his family would visit a few weeks every summer. He used to tell him that if it weren’t for his practice that he would take his family and relocate to Lima in a heartbeat. Puck couldn’t for the life of him understand why someone would give up California for Ohio if they had a choice.

~*~*~*~

  


  
**  
End of Chapter Two   
**   


  


~*~*~*~


	3. Uncle Don't Preach

**Beta:** LolaAnn and MissE, any remaining mistakes are mine.  
 **Disclaimer:** I am not making any money from this fanfiction. _Glee_ belongs to Ryan Murphy and the FOX network. _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ belongs to Joss Whedon.

~*~*~*~

  
**  
Chapter Three: Uncle Don’t Preach   
**   


~*~*~*~

As he stood there, waiting for his bags to appear, he kept an eye out for his Uncle. He was prepared for the worst – Ira could be very scary – and Puck knew his Uncle knew about Quinn and all the bad things he’d been involved in for years, all to create and maintain his reputation as a badass and a stud. Since Puck was looking for his uncle, he didn’t even notice his cousin until he had his arms full of a laughing girl with brilliant red hair.

“Noah! I’m so excited you’re here! Is it true you got a girl pregnant? I’m so glad you’re here!” Puck was always fascinated by his cousin’s ability to swing between dead serious and extremely cheerful between one second and the next, but her welcome made him completely forget that he was ever nervous or agitated. This was his Willow. Everything would be ok.

“Willow, I really don’t want to talk about it here.” Puck hugged her tight and then set her down on the ground again. He looked at the baggage claim carousel just in time to snag his bags before they went around on a second turn.

“That’s a lot of baggage,” Willow said as she helped him with his guitar case and one of the heavy suitcases on wheels. Puck just snorted and gave her a funny look, not sure if she had made a joke or an observation.

“Dad had some trouble finding a parking space, so he’s going to meet us out by the taxi stops.” Willow led the way to the far exit. As far as Puck could tell, Sunnydale International Airport was about four or five times the size of Lima Allen County Airport. And if the airport was any indication of how big the town was, Puck was going to like it here. Any place bigger than Lima was sure to have something going for it.

They reached the outside and Willow stopped a few feet from the curb, looking right and left to find her father’s car. When she spotted it she nudged Puck’s arm and hurried over. Puck thought she seemed uneasy and couldn’t figure out why. Sure, there were some questionable characters loitering about, but she had the big bad Puckzilla to protect her. Every jock at McKinley was totally jealous of his guns – no need to worry. It wasn’t even exactly dark yet, the sun was just about to touch the horizon. If Puck wasn’t such a badass, he would have said it was beautiful.

Uncle Ira was stepping out of the car to help with the bags. He didn’t look very happy as he opened the trunk. He even frowned, which was an expression Puck had never seen on his Uncle’s face before. It was totally terrifying. Ira took Puck’s bags from him and made everything fit in the not overly large, trunk. Not a word was said the entire time and Puck was once again getting nervous.

The butterflies he had somehow forgotten about when Willow crashed into him were back and meaner than ever. Puck’s uncle slammed the trunk shut and went to sit in the driver’s seat. Willow called shotgun, and that left Puck to sit alone in the back. The ride to the house would have been a strained one if it wasn’t for Willow’s constant babble about school, friends and something called a bronze. It all sounded totally lame, but Puck hung to her every word anyway. It felt like a lifeline, like if he missed just one word he was going to fall helplessly into a bottomless pit of badness.

~*~

The Rosenbergs’ house wasn’t a very big one, but a comfortable fit for their small family and the occasional visitor. Puck was very happy that he wouldn’t have to share a room with anyone. Willow showed him to the guest room and hung around while he unpacked a few things, clothes and his guitar stand being the most important. Then he sat down on the bed, heaved a big sigh and put his head in his hands. Willow sat down beside him, and put an arm around his shoulders.

“You ready to face the ranters? Or, my mom doesn’t really rant, or lecture or, you know, care. But my dad can be big with the rant, so be prepared Noah Puckerman.” She got up and grabbed his hand to get him downstairs again. Puck took a gulping breath and followed, not sure if he could stand getting a morality lecture from his very Jewish uncle. As if he didn’t know that he screwed up. As if he didn’t know that he’d probably ruined Quinn’s life. As if he didn’t know that he’d have to change his whole attitude, do a complete 180 with his life, or go down the same road as his father. As if the guilt wasn’t heavy enough already.

“Willow, why don’t you go to your room so I can talk to Noah in private for a while?” Uncle Ira said as Willow and Puck came into the kitchen where he was sitting at the table.

“I was going to call Buffy to see if she wanted to hang out.” Willow turned around to go to the family room and use the phone.

“Sure, just be home by 11!”

“Ok, Dad!” Willow said from the other room. Soon you could hear her talking excitedly to her friend.

“Sit down, Noah,” Uncle Ira said as several seconds went by and Puck hadn’t moved from his spot by the door. Puck reluctantly took his seat facing his uncle; he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, preparing for the lecture of a lifetime.

“I’m not going to tell you that what you did was stupid and wrong, and that you’ve probably ruined that poor girl’s life,” Uncle Ira said and Puck’s chin dropped to the floor. “Because, judging by your face, you are well aware of all that. What I will tell you is this…” Puck felt apprehension fill him as he prepared for his judgment.

“You will be grounded for 6 months, with no chance of parole, and after that we will see how well you’ve behaved. The terms are as follows; you will go to school and come home right away, you will do your homework and when that is done you will spend the evenings in the house or in the yard. You will not be allowed outside after 7pm. On the weekends you will do your chores, mow the lawn and paint the fence. You will be expected to do your own laundry and keep your room and bathroom clean. On the weekends you will be confined to your room when you are not doing your chores, which will be performed between 9am and 5pm. Breakfast is served at 7:30 every morning and dinner at 6pm. You will make your own lunch. Do you have any questions?”

Puck couldn’t help but think that prison wouldn’t be much worse. At least he was allowed outside. If his mother had been in charge, he wouldn’t ever see the sun again. In a way he supposed he was grateful that his uncle was going easier on him than his own mother would, but in another totally more badass way, he was pissed that his uncle would punish him at all. All he’d done was get a girl pregnant. Not the smartest thing to do maybe, but not close to the stupidest thing he’d ever done in his life. Like last month when he’d gotten high and taken a walk on the railing of the Lima Dam. It seemed like a badass idea at the time, now he just thought it was extremely stupid.

“Noah, are you even paying attention?” Uncle Ira sounded irritated and Puck was ripped from his thoughts. He looked up at his uncle, who had risen from his chair and was looming over him. Puck hated that; when adults felt the need to loom, to be intimidating. Why not just sit the fuck down and treat him like the grown man he is?

“Just… what about after school stuff? Like sports and maybe glee?” Puck hated that he needed to ask. Who the fuck was Ira Rosenberg to have the power to deny him anything?

“Didn’t you listen? You do your lessons and get back here. If you are not home by 3:30, the few privileges you have left will be taken away. If you feel the need to exercise, you may use the gym in the basement, though not before 8am and not after 10pm. Is that understood?” Uncle Ira was still looming and Puck was getting more and more agitated.

Out in the hall, the front door slammed shut, Willow was gone.

“Yes, Uncle. What about school lunches?” Puck was staring intently at the table, not sure what he would do if he looked up at his uncle.

“Willow usually bags hers, though you may buy if you’d rather do that.” Puck let out a sigh of relief as his uncle sat back down in his seat across the table.

“I’ll bag it, I guess.” Puck got up and headed for the door, but was stopped by his uncle calling his name

“Noah.”

“Yeah, Uncle Ira?”

“Sweet dreams”

“Huh… thanks… you too.” Puck hurried up the stairs and to his room, shutting the door firmly behind him.

~*~*~*~

  
**  
End of Chapter Three   
**   


~*~*~*~


	4. Back To School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** This will be the last chapter for a while. I’m sorry for all my devoted fans that I only have 5 chapters written after this one, but I don’t think that’s enough. So from now on I will post a chapter when I have a new one written. Write one - > post one. Seems like a good plan to me. Also a **warning** for everyone who is sensitive about the F-bomb… there will be plenty in this chapter…
> 
>  **Beta:** LolaAnn and MissE, any remaining mistakes are mine.  
>  **Disclaimer:** I am not making any money from this fanfiction. _Glee_ belongs to Ryan Murphy and the FOX network. _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ belongs to Joss Whedon.

~*~*~*~

  
**  
Chapter Four: Back to School   
**   


~*~*~*~

Puck had never really had a first day at a new school. He’d had the first day in first grade where he met all the people he would be with until graduation, 12 years later. So the moves from elementary, to junior high, to high school weren’t that big of a deal, he already knew everybody and everyone had their role to play and a place to stay in. Now that he didn’t have that anymore, he didn’t feel as sure of himself as he had in Lima. In Lima he felt like a big fish in a little pond, in Sunnydale he felt like a fucking guppy in an ocean full of sharks.

If it hadn’t been for Willow, he would have stayed in his bed and never shown his face. He knew what they did to new kids at McKinley. What he had done to new kids. And even though he looked badass and acted like a total asshole, he was afraid to be greeted with a slushy in the face. He’d packed a change of clothes just to be sure. Willow had looked at him strangely when she saw the clothes in his bag when she put the bagged lunch inside it. He’d ignored her and went out the door with Willow hurrying after him at a sort of brisk walk/jog.

“So, just so we are on the same page… what’s your story?” His cousin seemed to have no trouble keeping up with his fast, long legged pace.

“What?” Puck wasn’t stupid, but he did have trouble following conversation first thing in the morning.

“Your story. Why are you here, Noah? I wouldn’t think you’d want the whole school to know that you… uh… g-got a girl pregnant. And though the student population at Sunnydale High is used to people _disappearing_ out of the blue, new students are not so common. So why did you transfer?”

Puck was seriously impressed with his cousin’s lungs, she’d not only kept up with his pace (which meant she had to sort of run a little) but she had also delivered that speech without stopping for breath once. So Puck stopped dead in his tracks to think about what she’d said, and couldn’t help but be a little amused by how long it took Willow to notice that he was no longer walking beside her.

“You could give Kurt a run for his money with those lungs, Rosenberg,” Puck stated as Willow turned around to look for him.

“Who’s Kurt? Kurt’s a funny name. I’ve never heard of a Kurt before… how come you’ve never mentioned him before if he’s your friend? Huh? You know it’s your duty as a cousin to ‘tell the truth and nothing but the truth’ so help you someone-whose-name-I’m-not-supposed-to-take-in-vain!”

“Whoa! Will, chill out would you? You’re going to pull something.”

“Whatever, Puckerman! Who’s Kurt?”

“He’s just a guy I know from Glee. He’s a really cool dude, and he’s got more balls than a school gym.” For some reason Puck felt uncomfortable talking about Kurt, it brought up feelings he’d rather not think about. Like how much more he missed Kurt than any other kids in Glee, even Finn – who was his best bro – or Quinn – who he was supposed to be in love with.

“Ew! I really didn’t need to know that. It gives me strange mental images that I can never get rid of. But Kurt sounds like a nice guy. So, are you guys friends?” Willow just didn’t know when enough was enough. Puck glared a little at her as he started walking again.

“No, I used to toss him in dumpsters,” Puck stated and upped his pace. To his annoyance, Willow didn’t seem to have any trouble keeping up. She did keep quiet though which was a total plus.

~*~

The principal’s office at Sunnydale High wasn’t that much different from Figgins’ office back at McKinley. The difference being that Snyder had an actual door instead of a really big window. At least Figgins was amusing. Snyder was not. He seemed to think that he was intimidating, but in reality, he was just a sad excuse for a middle aged dumpstertoss who actually thought he was cool. Willow had snickered behind her hand as she left him with Snyder.

“See you at lunch, Noah!”

“Well, well, well. Noah Puckerman. Another delinquent joins Sunnydale High.” Snyder didn’t get any further before Puck interrupted.

“The name’s Puck. Could I just get the papers and shit so I can get out of here?” Puck was seated in the chair facing Snyder’s desk, slightly slumped and arms crossed.

“Is that supposed to be _cool_?” Snyder said, but started putting some papers in a folder, then handing it to Puck anyway.

“Your schedule, locker number and combination, the student handbook – _read it_ – and go see the librarian about your course books. Now get out!”

Puck sure didn’t need to be told twice to leave, but as soon as he was out in the halls he was on full alert; ready to duck for cover at the slightest sign of slushie-danger. He must have looked like such a freak, walking close to the walls with his shoulders hunched up to his ears and glaring daggers at anyone in a letterman’s jacket. He could easily identify every jock in the place, even those without an “S” on their chest.

He could even point out the sissies on the swim team. Splashing around in a pool with five other guys was not a real sport – anyone could do it. It wasn’t like football; football took talent, hard work and a badass bod so you wouldn’t get killed on the field. Unless your name was Kurt, then all you needed was some awesome moves and a divatude that would put even Beyoncé to shame.

And here he was thinking about Kurt again! What was wrong with him? Puck shook his head and almost walked right into a tall brunette girl talking to a mob of Cheerio-wannabees. Before the girl could even turn around to see who bumped into her, Puck had already told her what she was worth and was on his way again.

“Hey! Cro-Magnon Boy, do you even know who I am? I’m _Cordelia Chase_! I’m head cheerleader and the QB’s girlfriend, I’m Queen of this school and you should be on your knees begging for my mercy. And what is with that hair? That is so last decade, I can barely even look at you!” Cordelia Chase sure was a drama-queen, but after dealing with both Rachel and Kurt, sometimes at the same time, Puck wasn’t impressed.

“Is that all you’ve got, babe? Do you know who I am? I’m Puck. Killer on the football field, badass on the basketball court, awesome on stage and a cooler person than you will ever be, _Cordelia Chase_.” Puck gave her his trademark smirk and walked away, knowing that Cordelia Chase was standing there with her mouth hanging open.

“Shut your mouth, Chase! You’re catching flies,” Puck called from down the hall, not turning around but knowing he hit his mark. He felt a wave of satisfaction as he heard the unmistakable sound of a drama-queen’s huff and stomping foot. He felt so much more confident as he strutted through the halls for the rest of his first day at his new school.

~*~

When lunch rolled around, Puck thought he had figured out the pecking order at the high school. Not very surprisingly, queen Cordelia was at the very top, and also some guy named Larry.

He was standing in the middle of the cafeteria looking for an empty seat when he heard it – the most terrible sound you could ever imagine.

“Noah!” Willow shouted from across the packed cafeteria. “Noah, over here!” She was waving her arms above her head and jumping up and down a little to catch his attention. Every kid in the cafeteria was staring at her and laughing behind their lunches. Puck hung his head and felt his chances of not getting tossed in a dumpster disappearing at a quick rate. He marched up to his cousin, wearing his most badass expression.

“What the fuck, Rosenberg?”

“What’s with you?” a tiny blonde girl (standing slightly behind Willow and next to a tall dark haired guy) said while taking a protective step forward.

“Don’t worry about it, Buffy. He’s just in a mood.” Willow looked at him with her big sad eyes and Puck felt his insides melt. _Don’t make the girls cry_ was what his mother had told him since he was old enough to pull pig-tails, and also – she was his cousin, it was his duty to take care of her, not to make her cry in public.

“I told you this morning; the name is Puck, at least when there are other people around.” He pulled Willow into a hug, she squeezed back tightly.

“Okay!” the tall guy next to Buffy (what kind of name is Buffy anyway? Not even a porn-star would pick a ridiculous name like that!) clapped his hands together once and looked around at the girls and Puck. “Are we ready for lunch, because I don’t know about you, but I’m starving! I haven’t had anything to eat in 45 minutes and I’m wasting away over here.”

“Oh, poor Xander,” Willow chuckled from beside Puck, whose arms were still around her. Buffy and Xander turned down the hall and started for the quad. It was a very nice quad in Puck’s opinion, not like McKinley – all cement and rickety picnic-tables. Sunnydale High actually had real grass, trees and even flowers. Nothing not bolted to the ground would last very long in Lima – mainly because Puck would find some creative way to destroy it.

He still did feel the urge to deface the picture perfect scene, but told himself that he had made a promise to abandon all self-destructive behavior and become the man he’d like to be. Even though he knew he’d never meet his and Quinn’s child, he didn’t want the baby to have a deadbeat father.

“Hey, new guy! Are you playing a game of _Anywhere But Here_ by yourself? If you are, that’s pretty rude. You should totally share.” The short blonde one – Buffy – said, bringing Puck back from his somewhat depressing thoughts.

“What’s that Blondie?”

“The _Anywhere But Here_ game. A place, activity and person you’d rather be, do and hang out with… So, were you playing or were you just being rude for no reason?”

“Huh… Lima, singing, the Glee club.” He’d said Glee but what he really wanted to say was Kurt. He really wanted to sing with Kurt. Finding a great song to do with him would be a challenge; they were so different.

“You sing? What’s a Glee club?” Xander asked, leaning forward a bit as he took a big bite out of his apple.

“Yeah, I sing and play the guitar. Glee is a show choir. We’re called the New Directions, and we just won Sectionals before I left.”

“So, why did you?” Buffy asked.

“Did what?” If Puck thought Brittney was difficult to follow in conversation, it was nothing compared to Willow and her two friends.

“Why did you leave? It’s clear that you miss your old school and this Glee thing sounds like a lot of fun.”

“I had to. I got into some trouble… I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“Did you burn down the gym? Because I hear that teacher-type people don’t think that’s a very good idea… even if it was riddled with asbestos.” Buffy took a bite of her sandwich.

“Who would burn down a gym? I did cause a small fire in the chem lab once, but I would be totally lost without the gym.” Puck didn’t look at anyone, he didn’t like how moist his eyes felt.

“You work out?” Xander asked, his eyes had quickly zeroed in on Puck’s chest area and shoulders, practically checking him out. Puck hadn’t pegged him for a queer, but he supposed anything was possible. Instead of answering, Puck shrugged out of his jean jacket and flexed his guns, they looked awesome in the black muscle-tee he was wearing. Buffy’s eyes widened a little and Xander made a little gulping noise. Puck smirked and put his jacket back on.

“Will, your cousin’s a total hottie!” Buffy bumped shoulders with the redhead and smiled at Puck in a very flirty manner.

“Ummm… Buff? You have a boyfriend, remember? A very large boyfriend, who could very, very easily kill any guy who even looked at you and make it look like an extremely painful accident.”

“Xander!” the girls exclaimed together.

“Angel would never actually do that!” Buffy sounded truly scandalized.

“Does he go to school here?” Puck asked but expected the answer to be a big resounding _no_ with several exclamation marks tacked on to the end. He wasn’t disappointed.

“He’s totally old,” Willow explained.

“I’ve done my share of older women – I can dig that,” Puck shrugged and started on his third sandwich. His cousin and two new friends went unnaturally still and quiet. Puck looked up, raised an eyebrow and asked, “What?”

“Exactly how many is ‘your fair share,’ exactly?” Xander leaned his elbows on his knees so he could get even closer to the object of his interest.

“Huh… five-a-week since about two summers ago, I think. And then there were the Cheerios. Oh, and that totally hot waitress at Breadstix a few months ago. _She was awesome_.”

“Noah Puckerman, you are such a man-whore!” Willow said punching him in the arm. Xander and Buffy raised an eyebrow at Willow’s actions but didn’t say anything.

“I’m the studdliest badass in Lima. The cougars had no chance of resisting my charms.” Puck smirked his badass smirk, and in the corner of his eye he could swear he saw several cheerleaders swoon. He still had it. Not that he’d ever lost it – but he still had it.

~*~

He didn’t see the queen-bee or her cheerleader drones for the rest of the day, which he was sort of glad for – especially since hearing Xander and Willow’s stories about _Her Royal Cruelness_. Puck had told them, “If this Cordelia chick was a drama-queen, then Kurt was a fucking drama-god.” Then Willow had said that for not being his friend he sure did talk about Kurt a lot. Puck had told her to shut up.

~*~

History, English and biology flew by pretty quickly and without any memorable happenings. It wasn’t until they were on their way home that things turned to crap. Puck was standing by his locker, getting his bag and things together while waiting for Willow, when all of a sudden he was flying head first into his locker, banging his forehead hard enough to draw blood. Before he could even understand what had happened, a chorus of cruel laughter accompanied the sound of running as half the football team hurried around the corner.

“Fuckers!” Puck shouted after them and slammed his locker door so hard it flew right back open and smacked him in the nose.

“Oh my God! Noah, what happened?” Willow and her sidekicks came running just as he turned around to sling his backpack over his shoulder, blood dripping from his forehead and nose.

“Did you get attacked by a locker-demon?” Buffy asked with a perfectly straight face.

“Should we go talk to the G-man? If there’s a locker-monster roaming the school feasting on… umm… students we should, you know, do something.” Xander colored a little as he looked at Puck, obviously holding back some sort of bad joke.

“What _the fuck_ are you guys talking about? Locker-monsters… Fuck! I’m getting blood in my eyes.” He headed for the nearest men’s room. Xander followed him in, but the girls stayed outside.

“So, no Locker-demon then, Puckerman?”

“Fuck, are you serious? I’m bleeding here and you’re making cracks about monsters... very funny, dude!” Puck was holding one balled-up paper towel to his forehead and another one to his nose.

“You’re gonna need stitches, man! It’s not safe walking around with an open wound like that.”

“Yeah, whatever. Good thing my nose isn’t broken.”

“What happened? Since you obviously weren’t attacked by an evil Locker-demon, which of course was a joke and couldn’t possibly exist, not even a little one.” Xander was leaning back against one of the sinks while Puck examined his nose (which had finally stopped bleeding) in the mirror.

“Fucking football team shoved me headfirst into my fucking locker! At least I only shoved people into closed lockers; it’d give them a bad bruise but not cause permanent, fucking, facial scarring!”

“Ah, so you’ve met Larry. Big, violent and…”

“Gay,” Puck interrupted with a strange cross between a frown and a smirk.

“What now?”

“Gay”

“Say what?”

“Dude! Larry the Jock is so far in the closet, he’s in fucking Narnia!”

“How do you know? You’ve been here a day. I’ve known him since he was a fat kid in pre-school, and I had no idea.”

“He hides it well, and I’ve seen it before.”

“Seen what exactly?”

“He’s ruthless to any guy a straight asshole would consider competition, and he treats the girls with less class than a white-trash hooker. And I also caught him checking out my ass in the locker-room after PE.”

“Hey, you’re like all observant and stuff.” Xander scratched the back of his neck and looked towards the door as it opened a crack.

“Xander? Noah? Is everything alright in there? Are you guys coming out soon? Me and Buffy want to go to the Bronze before… you know… homework.” Puck stalked over to the door and pulled it open the rest of the way. Willow gasped as she fell forward onto his chest.

“You ok, Willow?” He asked her as he helped her regain her feet.

“Yeah, yeah I’m alright, Noah. But you’re not! You need to go to the hospital and have that looked at.”

“I don’t have time, it’s almost 3:15. If I’m not at home by 3:30 Ira will have my balls. Fuck! I can’t even go a day without getting in trouble!” Puck said as he headed for the exit.

“Don’t you worry your misfortunate little fashion statement over it. Giles will give you a ride,” Buffy stated and pulled him in the opposite direction.

“ _Oh_ yeah! I’ll run ahead and alert the Master of Tweed. I bet he’s knee-deep in research.” Xander ran down a side hallway and around a corner. Puck stared after him for a moment before asking the obvious question

“Who the fuck is Giles? Master of Tweed… you guys have weird friends.”

“Yeah, Giles isn’t exactly normal by any standard; he’s a librarian,” Buffy said with obvious affection.

“Must be one hell of a librarian,” Puck stated as they stepped through the doors of the school library.

“Buffy! Can you explain what Xander is blabbering about? Something about a locker demon and blood everywhere. Should I be worried? Are you alright?”

“Yes, yes, no and yes.” Buffy said and leaned against the checkout counter.

“What?” Giles said while cleaning his glasses.

“Yes, I’m Buffy. Yes, I can tell you what he’s talking about. No, you shouldn’t worry and yes, I’m alright.”

“So?” Giles put his glasses back on after squeezing the bridge of his nose as if he was fighting off a headache. “Oh, hello. Who are you?” The man sort of tilted his head up and squinted at Puck through his old-man glasses. He looked like a real bore – old, British and covered in tweed. At least now he knew why Xander called him _Master of Tweed_. Puck smirked a little to himself.

“This is my cousin, Noah. Noah, this is Giles. The world’s bestest librarian.” Willow introduced them while taking Puck’s hand in hers.

“If I’m not getting a ride I need to get going. I’ll be late, and I’m in enough shit as it is.” Puck said and headed for the exit again.

“Hold on, Noah, I’ll drive you. You shouldn’t walk around with blood dripping all over. It’s not safe.” Giles went behind the counter to get his keys and soon they were all packed into the librarian’s tiny car.

“To the hospital, I presume?”

“Puckerman said he wanted to go home, something about ‘being in enough trouble,’ which I don’t understand because he hasn’t done a thing,” Buffy said from beside Puck in the backseat.

“Are you sure? You do look like you need stitches,” Giles pressed and glanced at the three teenagers in his backseat through the rearview mirror.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just take me home.” Puck looked at the clock on his mobile and swore; it was 3:25. His uncle was going to kill him! What if he took away his guitar? Puck would surely die if that happened. He eased the pressure on his head wound, but quickly put the paper towel back when he felt blood start to run down his forehead again.

~*~

To Puck’s amazement, he was standing in the house, hanging his jacket up in the entrance hall at exactly 3:30.

“One more minute and you’d be…” Uncle Ira said as he came to greet him, but stopped short when he saw the state Puck was in.

“Not even a day!” His uncle stated and turned to go back to the family room.

“I wasn’t fighting!” Puck exclaimed and headed for the bathroom to look for some kind of bandage that would hold his wound closed long enough to get to the hospital. His arm was getting totally tired!

“If you weren’t fighting, then what happened? People don’t just bleed for no reason.” Uncle Ira turned to face him again.

“Some Neanderthal shoved him into a locker, Mr. Rosenberg. Really, it wasn’t his fault,” Buffy cut in. Puck had totally forgotten they were still there.

“Oh, well…” His uncle clearly didn’t know what to say to that. He was expecting Noah Puckerman; troublemaker and screw-up. Not Noah Puckerman; abuse victim.

“Since Noah has been returned safely home, I must be going. The work never ceases at the library,” Giles chuckled a little. Puck could tell he was not a people person, and that anything outside of the library and his books, was way beyond his comfort zone.

“Thanks for the ride, Mr. Giles!” Puck called from the bathroom. Even though he was badass, Puck thought the library-man was totally cool in a stuffy ‘British’ way.

“You’re quite welcome, Noah. Willow, be sure to talk to our new friend about the safety precautions, and do try not to _wig him out_ as you youngsters would say. I’ll see you later, Buffy. Xander, do you need a ride home? I believe your house is on my way.”

“But Buff, Will and I were going to check out that thing. You know, the ‘fun, educational learning type thing’ that we talked about this morning when you found that other ‘fun, educational, learning type thing’ in one of your ‘fun, educational, learning type’ books. You know this morning? And we were going to check that out now before it gets dark and we lose the… opportunity.” Xander babbled and looked at Giles in a meaningful way, as if he was speaking in a code, so brilliant, no one could possibly figure it out. Puck, who had come out of the bathroom in the middle of Xander’s rant, didn’t know what to think. Mr. Giles, the stuffy, English librarian, who dressed in tweed (!), was in on some mischief the three teenagers were apparently planning. Mischief he obviously gave them the idea for, from one of his books. Puck decided that checking out the library was going to the top of his priority list.

“Oh, yes, quite right. I’ll see you all tomorrow, then.” Giles left without another word. The four teenagers and Uncle Ira stood there in silence for a few seconds before Uncle Ira remembered what was going on and said:

“Willow, are you coming with us or going with your friends?” He picked up his keys from the bowl on the chest by the door.

“I don’t know. Noah?” She gave him a look, clearly asking if he wanted her to come. Puck didn’t want to keep her from her friends and whatever they were going to do, but he really _hated_ hospitals. But Puck was a badass, dammit! So he just shrugged his shoulders and said, “Whatever.” He grabbed his jacket from the hook and went to wait for his uncle by the car. A few seconds later he was joined by both Willow and his uncle. Puck smiled as Willow got in the backseat with him. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, and pretended not to notice when her hand snuck into his and stayed there the whole ride to the hospital.

This day had totally sucked.

~*~*~*~

  
**  
End of Chapter Four   
**   


~*~*~*~


	5. Angry All the Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Beta:** LolaAnn and MissE, any remaining mistakes are mine.  
>  **Disclaimer:** I am not making any money from this fanfiction. _Glee_ belongs to Ryan Murphy and the FOX network. Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon.

~*~*~*~

  
**  
Chapter Five: Angry All the Time   
**   


~*~*~*~

Puck didn’t have an opportunity to check out the library until a whole week after the locker incident. But that Monday, PE had been cancelled without warning or explanation, so Puck found himself with a little over an hour to kill. No matter where he looked, though, he couldn’t find any really interesting books.

The chemistry ones had potential, but Puck doubted that _that_ was the kind of ‘fun, educational learning type thing’ Xander had talked about. And he also doubted that Giles would be cool with blowing shit up, and what else could you do with chemistry books? As he was browsing the shelves, Giles himself came out from a section of bookcases Puck hadn’t even noticed.

“Oh hello, Noah. I didn’t see you there. What do you want?” Giles seemed in a hurry to get rid of him, so Puck thought he’d hang around for a bit.

“Nothing really, Mr. Giles. I was just browsing.”

“Oh, umm… don’t you have a class to go to?”

“Nope. Gym was cancelled; don’t have anywhere to be for a good long while.” Puck smiled innocently at the librarian and just loved how uncomfortable he seemed to be.

“I didn’t think you were the bookish type, Noah. Maybe I could help you find something? Fiction? Poetry? Ummm… we have a whole section of biographies just around there, as well as a large selection of historical…” Giles trailed off as he noticed Puck’s raised eyebrow and amused smirk.

“Make fun of the librarian…,” Giles huffed. “You truly are Willow’s cousin. She finds it amusing as well.”

“She hangs in the library a lot? I know she’s a nerd, but I thought she was more into computers and shit.” Puck crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the nearest bookshelf.

“Yes, she, Xander and Buffy do spend an inordinate amount of time pestering me and polluting my precious silence with inane chatter. Willow’s favorite pastime in here is to complain about the lack of adequate technology, however. So I don’t see why I can’t seem to get rid of them.” Giles smiled a little and glanced down at his book, which was still open in front of him. He quickly snapped it shut and hid it behind his back before Puck had a chance to even read the title.

“So, Noah, can I help you find anything specific?”

“Nah, that’s cool, Mr. G. I found some chemistry books back there that showed some promise.” Puck nodded his head toward the indicated section of bookcases. “I might check them out.”

“You like chemistry?” Giles seemed to light up a little at the prospect of a discussion about a subject not appropriately appreciated amongst those he associated with nowadays.

“Not really. Well, I like it when shit goes _BOOM_!” Puck smirked as Giles jumped a little at his sound-effects.

“Yes, well… that’s… umm…” Giles took his glasses off and started cleaning them, even though Puck could clearly see that they didn’t need the almost frantic rubbing they were getting.

“Chill, English. I’m not going to blow up a building, or anything.” Puck chuckled and turned to leave. He knew now where the books he wanted to look at were hidden and Giles wasn’t going to let him back there any time soon. He’d find a way, though – he had to.

~*~

For lack of anything better to do, he went to the computer lab, where he met Miss Calendar – such a babe! He talked with her for a while, and then he was let loose on one of the computers. There was only one rule: No Porn. Which Puck thought was pretty cool, since Figgins watched over the computers at McKinley like a hawk and no one was allowed in the lab except for class.

Puck logged onto Facebook to see what had happened in Lima since he was banished. He hadn’t talked to anyone since that last day of school – except for a phone-call to his mother the night he arrived. It was short and strained, and he was totally glad when it was over. She wouldn’t even let him talk to Miriam, which he thought was weird as hell.

He checked out Finn’s page first. He’d updated his relationship status to “In a Relationship” three days ago. The girl: Rachel Berry! Puck was floored. He hadn’t thought Finn had it in him to move on so quickly. He’d only just found out about how truly dramatic Quinn’s baby-drama really was two weeks ago! He went on Berry’s page next and friended her, even though they weren’t really friends. He felt he had to, because Finn was his bro – nothing could ever change that.

As he sent the request to Berry, he figured he might as well friend the whole Glee Club. Finn, Santana, Quinn, Brittney, Mike and Matt were already on his list – since they were all either Cheerios or on the football team. He sat there for a while, finding the missing members through the search engine, making a game of it to see how many results he would get on each name.

It was tricky finding Aretha though, since he never could remember her name – so he cheated and went through Britt’s friend list to find her. After half an hour he had only one person left to find: Kurt Hummel. He hesitated before typing the name. And then he hesitated again before looking at his profile.

The picture caught his attention first. You could see that Kurt had taken it himself, though it was so well done that it could have been a professional photographer’s work. The pose was innocent and provocative at the same time. Puck gulped where he sat with the pointer hovering over the friending button. He was so into Kurt’s picture that he didn’t notice other people coming into the room until he heard Willow’s voice right next to his ear.

“So that’s Kurt, huh? He’s cute!” Puck quickly clicked the ‘add friend’ button and logged off; then he switched the screen off for good measure.

“Umm… yeah. I was just… you know… checking in… to see how the glee-kids are doing.”

“Uh-huh. Now tell me more about Kurt, Noah! He’s so cute... does he have a girlfriend?” Willow wanted to know as she perched on the desk next to the cooling screen. Xander and Buffy had pulled over a couple of chairs from nearby stations.

“Give it up, Willow; you’re not his type.” Puck chuckled and scooted his chair back.

“I’m never anyone’s type.” Willow pouted, looking a little depressed.

“Don’t be upset, Willow. What I meant was that Kurt would rather go for someone like Xander.” Puck glanced over at the other boy, made a face, and then added as an afterthought, “Or me.”

“What? He likes girls with dark hair and brown eyes?” Willow asked, not getting the message. At all.

“Only if they have dicks,” Puck said, a little exasperated by his cousin’s naïveté. Buffy’s eyebrows went up as both Xander and Willow did fairly good impressions of a couple of ripe tomatoes.

“Huh. Umm… Puck-man… Are you? That is to say… Not that it matters… you know… if you are… ‘cuz that’s totally cool and more power to you! But just out of curiosity… are you?” Xander spluttered, and Puck felt as if he was being cornered – which was really strange. If anyone had asked him this question three months ago, he would have denied it and, if he felt justified, punched the person’s teeth in.

Now, the denial didn’t come as easily, and so Puck just shrugged his shoulders and fled. He ended up outside the weight-room, but since he wasn’t on any teams he wasn’t allowed in. This was not a good day to be Puck. He didn’t know what to do with his anger, how to get rid of it. At McKinley the weight-room was his haven – a place to safely get rid of his aggression and frustration.

“Hey, Puck. You ok?” Puck spun around to glare at Buffy, annoyed that she had followed him, but grateful that it was just her.

“Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be freaking out with your friends?” Puck asked, still too defensive to do anything but attack.

“Pffft! Please! I grew up in L.A. I know it takes all kinds to make the world go ‘round. If you’re gay, bi, straight, or secretly a unicorn, it’s none of my business. So I’m gonna ask you again: you ok?” She looked up at him with a reassuring smile, and he couldn’t help but smile at her crack about the unicorn.

“No, not really. I feel like I need to punch something, and the door is totally locked!” He kicked the reinforced door, but it didn’t do anything other than give him a slight ache in his big toe.

“Not just a little bit locked, then?” Buffy asked and smiled at him again.

“What?”

“Nothing… you could go to the track and run a few laps… or...”

“I don’t want to run! I need, like, a punching-bag, or something,” Puck growled and yanked at the doorknob again.

“Alright… but no questions!” Buffy warned and dragged him by the arm in the direction of the library.

“Where are we going? I’m not going to make out with you.” Puck struggled a little against her grip but she was freakishly strong – you know, for a girl.

“Please. My boyfriend would kill you if you tried,” Buffy huffed and tried not to laugh.

“I could totally take him. Have you seen my guns?” Puck asked and flexed the arm Buffy was not trying to pull out of its socket.

“Yes, I have. They’re very impressive. But you still wouldn’t want to get into it with Angel.”

“Sure I would. I could mop the floor with anyone. I was in fight club.” Puck smirked even though he was still feeling the need to – at least – toss a dweeb in a dumpster.

“You mean like the movie?” Buffy said in a voice eerily similar to Brittney’s.

“No! Like a real Fight Club! That dude was, like, bat-shit crazy, and I’m not crazy!”

“Okay, okay. Save the anger for the dummy.” Buffy pushed the door to the library open and yelled, “Giles! I’m gonna spar with Puckerman!” Puck’s eyes went wide as he seriously questioned the girl’s sanity.

“I’m not gonna hit you, Summers,” Puck stated and planted his feet,… or he tried to, anyway. Buffy kept going and he had to move his feet or fall on his face.

“Fine, I’ll hit you.” Buffy smiled innocently and threw him some pads to put on his hands. He had barely gotten them on before she started throwing punches and doing some freaky ninja kicks that even Jackie Chan wouldn’t be able to match on his best day. After about a minute or two of being treated like a human punching bag, Puck called it quits and threw off the pads.

“Had enough already?” Buffy asked, slightly disappointed and not even winded. Puck knew that he would have been a panting mess on the floor after doing what Buffy had done without even breaking a sweat.

“No, I just want a turn pummeling you for a bit.” He cracked his knuckles and smiled a menacing smile. He thought Buffy might have been a little intimidated – who wouldn’t? – but the girl just flashed him a smile of her own, put the pads on her hands and said, “Bring it!” Puck went easy on her at first, not really comfortable hitting a girl – even if she was wearing protective gear and he knew she could take it.

“Is that all you’ve got? Where’s the fire I saw when you were abusing that door? Come on, Puckerman! Give me your worst!”

And Puck let loose.

Buffy gave him some pointers, and soon it wasn’t about getting rid of his anger anymore. It had turned into a proper workout. And Buffy obviously knew what she was talking about. It wasn’t long before he could throw a punch with more force and accuracy than ever before.

They had been going at it for about 45 minutes without interruptions when Giles walked in and shouted in a horrified tone, “Buffy! What do you think you’re doing?” Puck didn’t let up in punching at Buffy’s hands, but she glanced over at the miffed librarian and said, without even missing a beat, “Picking flowers.” Puck made a noise that sounded like something between a huff and a chuckle, bringing Buffy’s full attention back to him.

“Focus, Puck! Five more! Harder! Good. Now faster! Three more! Come on!” Puck was putting everything that he was into those punches, and as Buffy said, “Last one!” he gave a little more. And when the last punch in the series smacked against the pad he fell to the floor, exhausted and in a glorious mood.

“Really, Buffy; some discretion is encouraged!” Giles walked over and helped Buffy off with the pads.

“Best workout ever!” Puck panted from the floor, his eyes closed and laughing slightly.

“You see, Giles?” Buffy said and sat down next to Puck. “Puck here was in a dangerous mood and the weight-room was locked, so instead of him getting in some serious trouble, I took him here and made him all blissed-out on endorphins and other nice exercise hormones.” Giles looked at them both on the floor, sweaty but smiling, and shook his head.

“Well, I suppose that’s alright, then. I just wish that you would have told me first.”

“But I totally did! I called you when we came in the library,” Buffy whined and looked to Puck for confirmation, but he was still lying spread-eagle on the floor with his eyes closed and a doped-up smile on his face.

“Did I answer?” Giles asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well… No… but I did tell you, technically. It’s not my fault that you didn’t hear me,” Buffy sulked.

“Don’t you both have somewhere to be?” Giles sighed and cleaned his glasses in an effort to quell his irritation with the blonde girl on the floor and her new friend. Buffy glanced at the big clock on the wall and instantly her sulk was forgotten.

“Shoot! Snyder is just looking for an excuse to suspend me… again.” She shot to her feet and pulled Puck up with her.

“Come on, Spaceman, time for biology!” Buffy skipped to the exit, and Puck forced himself to follow. His feet felt like they were made of lead and his knees seemed to consist mostly of Jell-O. But he made it to class just before the last bell rang.

~*~*~*~

  
**  
End of Chapter Five   
**   


~*~*~*~


	6. Let's Get Together - Violently

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Here’s an update even though I probably shouldn’t… but since it’s Christmas… Don’t blink or you’ll miss it. ;P

~*~*~*~

 **Chapter Six: Let’s Get Together – Violently**

~*~*~*~

Puck had been surprised when, after a few days, he was friends with the whole Glee Club on Facebook. Not a single one had rejected him – which he refused to admit made his heart ache for Lima and Glee even more than the constant homesickness that he had somehow gotten used to over the last couple of weeks.

He had also received several messages from his ‘new’ friends. Berry had chewed him out in a five-page-long e-mail that he didn’t bother reading past the first few sentences. Goth-girl asked how he was and if the coffee was any better in California and had he met any movie-stars yet? Aretha’s message was short and to the point: get your shit together and come back, asshole! Kurt’s message was the only one that really surprised him. It was kind of sweet and caring, but he could still hear Kurt’s bitchy tone in every word.

The heart of Kurt’s long e-mail was essentially the same as the others’; “ _I’m pissed that you had to leave. Please clean up your act so that you can come back and help us win Nationals. We can’t do it without you_.” The last line in Kurt’s letter was what made him literally fall off his chair and lose his breath: “ _You are truly missed – I miss you_.”

Puck couldn’t stop smiling the entire day, even though his verbal sparring with Chase had reached epic proportions and Larry-the-Caveman was getting more brutal every time he saw him. His smile and good mood did not falter. Not even when Larry called him a fucking queer and told him that his Mohawk made him look like a loser. Larry’s reaction to his wink and kissy-face was violent but amusing. It was totally worth a bruised back and a dented locker.

~*~

During lunch, Puck had some time and decided that he should write back to Kurt. The computer lab was empty when he got there, except for one dude who seemed to be a permanent fixture – kind of like Brad in the choir room at McKinley. Puck tossed his head back and greeted the guy with a “hey, dude” before he sat down at a random station and logged on.

Half an hour later Willow came into the lab and sat down at the station next to his.

“Whatcha doin’?” Puck, startled, jumped a little in his chair and looked over at his cousin with wide eyes and a hand covering his frantically beating heart.

“Damn, Willow! Give a guy some warning!”

“Sorry. I thought a badass like you could take a random question.” Willow’s tone was hurt, but Puck didn’t care. He was still trying to get his heart back in its correct place and rhythm.

“Are you questioning my badassness? Have you _seen_ my guns?” Willow just raised an eyebrow as if to say _are you for real_? Puck pretended that he didn’t see her and turned back to his screen.

“So, whatcha doin’?” Willow asked again, leaning over a bit to get a look at the screen.

“Writing to a friend. Not that it’s any of YB.” Puck glared a little at her, but as usual she was unaffected.

“You really miss them, huh?”

“Yeah,” he sighed, as he was filled with such homesickness he thought he might actually die.

“’Specially that girl, I bet. What was her name? You never told me.”

“Quinn, but no; she’s not the one I miss the most. It’s weird, ‘cuz Kurt and I were never that close. I used to toss him in dumpsters and call him queer. But when I joined Glee and got to know him a little bit, I realized what a badass he is. And I sort of got used to him, you know? But I never thought I was going to miss him when I wouldn’t get to see him every day. It’s like he sneaked his way under my skin and now I can’t get rid of him.”

“Sounds like you like this boy a lot, Noah.” Willow said in a low voice and put a hand on his arm.

“If you tell anyone, you’re dead,” Puck growled. If he’d said that to anyone else they would be running for their lives, but Willow just laughed and said, “Your secret’s safe with me”.

“Cross your heart and hope to die?” Puck narrowed his eyes as he looked at her. He knew that invoking their childhood oath would mean the same to Willow as it did to him.

“Stick a needle in my eye,” she answered, not even batting an eye.

“Good.” Puck finished his message to Kurt and turned the screen off after logging off.

“Have you eaten yet?” He asked, and Willow shook her head, no.

“I’m supposed to meet Buffy and Xan in a few minutes. I thought I’d come in here and check my e-mail, but you distracted me so I guess I’d better go find them. You coming?” Willow got up from her seat and started for the door.

“Sure. I have nothing better to do.” Puck took Willow’s hand as they went to their lockers to get their lunches, and then as they went to find their friends.

“Wills! What’s with the hand-holding?” Xander asked as he saw his best friend and her cousin walk towards them over the lawn.

“Shut up, Xander!” Willow said in an exasperated tone of voice at the same time as Puck asked, “Jealous?” with his best badass smirk. And just because he knew it would bother Xander, he draped an arm around Willow’s shoulders as they sat down on the steps next to the other two. Xander spluttered for a while, not wanting to admit what everyone already knew.

“So, Puck, are you feeling better after our workout the other day?” Buffy discreetly changed the subject, to save her friends from further embarrassment.

“Yeah, much better, maybe we could do it again sometime?” Puck smiled one of his rare smiles – one which was neither a smirk nor a leer. He winked at her, and Xander started spluttering again. When he finally found his words, he turned to Buffy with a scandalized expression and said, “What about Angel!?”

“What _about_ Angel?” Buffy asked, totally confused, not getting at all what Angel had to do with her working out with Puck.

“Did you break up?” Xander asked hopefully and leaned a little closer to Buffy.

“No!” she exclaimed, and smacked him on the arm.

“Ouch! Buff!” Xander flinched and grabbed at his shoulder.

“Sorry, Xan. But I don’t get why you think Angel has anything to do with me helping Puck with his workout,” Buffy sulked, feeling a little guilty about smacking him.

“Yeah, Harris. What does this Angel dude have to do with our workout? Please share.” Puck smirked now, knowing exactly what the other boy had thought. But Xander couldn’t answer; he was stuttering and turning a very interesting shade of red.

“You thought we had sex!” Puck laughed.

“I did not!” Xander protested, just as Buffy said, “Gross.” Puck raised an eyebrow and turned his smirk at her.

“You should only be so lucky.” He winked at her as she blushed scarlet.

“Umm… Noah? Maybe you should go easy on the ladies, considering why you’re here in the first place.” Willow’s words and serious face made his good mood fly away like a feather in a hurricane.

“You just _had_ to bring her up,” Puck sighed, and sorrow filled his eyes.

“Bring who up? Did I miss something? I missed something.” Xander looked from Puck to Willow as if he was watching them play a riveting game of tennis, or maybe Ping-Pong, considering the speed with which his head swiveled from one to the other.

“Quinn,” Puck sighed again, guilt flooding his heart as he realized he hadn’t really thought about her, or the baby, in days.

“Quinn? Seriously? There are people named Quinn in the world, and they make fun of my name.” Buffy tried to joke but it fell flat.

“Don’t make fun of my baby-mama!” Puck knew it wasn’t the best way of breaking the news to them, but they were friends now and he didn’t want to keep lying. He’d made up some bull-shit story about fighting when they’d first asked about why he’d transferred in the middle of the semester. But now that Willow had told them that there was a cat in the bag, he thought he might as well let it out.

“Come again? I thought you just said ‘baby-mama.’” Xander leaned forward with an exaggerated look of shock on his face.

“You heard me right,” Puck stated. He felt a little like bolting, but when Willow took his hand again the panicky feeling went away and he could relax enough to dig into his PB&J.

“You have a kid?” Buffy asked, shocked but not really surprised.

“Not yet. She’s got a few more months of baking left.”

“That’s the real reason you were sent away?”

“Yes.”

“Did you love her?”

“Sort of.” Buffy’s questions didn’t make him feel like he was being attacked, but rather that she was a friend who was trying to understand.

“Sort of?” Xander butted in.

“I’ve known her forever, we were friends. And when I found out about the baby, I felt an obligation to her. But I never had any romantic feelings for her. I tried dating her for a little bit, but that was just because of our daughter. I wanted to keep her. And to do that I had to prove to Quinn that I could be a good dad. But it doesn’t matter anymore, since Quinn is planning on giving her up.” Puck hated talking about his feelings, but with this group it didn’t feel so bad. He knew they wouldn’t judge him.

“Wow. And she’s 16 like us?” Buffy asked, a dreamy look in her eyes.

“Yeah. It’s quite the scandal, actually.” Puck watched Buffy drift off in a fantasy only she knew. Though Willow seemed to know in which direction her thoughts were heading, since she gave her friend a sad smile as Buffy came back to the real world.

“How so?”

“First off – and please don’t judge me for it too harshly; I’ve already suffered enough for it – Quinn was my best friend’s girl.” There were three pairs of raised eyebrows, but no one said a word – which Puck was grateful for. “Second, she was president of the Celibacy Club, as well as a devout Christian. It was such a shock to everyone when she got pregnant – her parents threw her out.” Buffy, he saw, appreciated the irony of the president of the Celibacy Club getting pregnant, and she was sporting an amused smirk under her still raised eyebrows – which presented a very funny picture.

“She wanted everyone to think that Finn was the father. And he was dumb enough to buy it; they didn’t even have sex! But then, somehow, the secret got out and everything just sort of blew up. My mom found out two days before I got here. I don’t even know how Quinn is doing. I haven’t heard from her since… since…”

Puck remembered the scene in the hall outside the choir room at McKinley, and he couldn’t say it. He hadn’t promised her anything, but he had hinted that, once he came back, they would work whatever they had going on out. But now he knew that he couldn’t do that. And since he hadn’t heard anything from her since before he left Lima, he figured she knew that too.

“So you’re not going to be with her when you get back home?” Buffy asked, a frown on her face.

“No. There is no reason to; since I don’t really love her, we wouldn’t work out anyway. And she’s giving the baby up. If she wanted to keep the baby it would be different. I would never abandon my kid!” Puck said with all the intensity and anger of a neglected child.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t,” Willow said and leaned into his shoulder, and the four friends fell into an uncomfortable silence.

“What are your plans for today, Will? I could really use your expertise.” Buffy changed the subject after a few seconds of heavy silence, and Puck was incredibly grateful that the heavy mood seemed to be gone.

“Nothing special; I’m all yours, Buff. What did you have in mind?” Willow sat up a little straighter but was still leaning against him, it made Puck feel more grounded as he took comfort in his cousin.

“Well… umm…,” Buffy looked uncertain as she glanced at Puck, not really wanting to freak him out, but at the same time she wanted him to know – wanted him to be included.

“Well… umm…,” she said again looking to Xander and then Willow for advice.

“I say just tell him! If he’s going to hang out with us, he’s going to figure it out eventually, anyway.” Xander shrugged and threw his hands in the air. She looked at Puck now, not in uncertainty but as if she was sizing him up.

“Alright.” She took a deep breath, “Will, I need you to hack into the school records. I think I’ve found a pattern, but I can’t be sure until I’ve checked a few things.” Puck’s chin dropped all the way to the ground in shock as he stared at his cousin and her closest friends.

“Again!?” Willow sighed. “You’ve seen me do it so many times you should be able to do it yourself!” She looked at Buffy in fond exasperation.

“Yeah… Buffy and technology are unmixy things,” the girl stated with a big smile.

“You mean, you guys do stuff like that a lot?” Puck asked when he had composed himself. So many questions were popping up in his mind he had trouble keeping track of them all.

“Well… yeah,... I mean, if there’s something we really need to know and we can’t get at it in any other way. We don’t really have a choice, do we?” Buffy asked, a little on the defensive.

“Sure, makes sense,” Puck said with a shrug. “Hey, Willow! Could you, maybe, you know, when you’re hacking already, change just a little…?”

“NO!” Puck didn’t even have time to finish his request before Willow interrupted him.

“You don’t even know what I was going to ask!” Puck cried, highly amused at his cousin’s determined – and slightly pissed off – expression.

“You were going to ask me to change your grades. I won’t do it; don’t ever ask again, Noah Puckerman, or so help me, I will tell dad!”

“Tell him what? I haven’t done anything, and if you tell him you hacked into the school records, you’d get in way worse trouble than I could ever dream of,” Puck reasoned.

“I’ll tell him you pilfered from the liquor-cabinet, and he’ll believe me, because I can not only hack into the NASA mainframe but I can also manufacture evidence. And I’m not afraid of you, buddy!” She poked him in the chest with a sharp finger.

“Willow, when did you become such a badass?!” Puck chuckled.

“A year and a half ago,” she deadpanned, and bit into her apple. Buffy giggled, and Xander nodded in agreement. Puck looked around at the three friends and tried to puzzle out their mystery – it didn’t take a genius to figure out that there was one – but he didn’t have much luck. Then he had a thought.

“So, when did you move to Sunnydale, Summers?” He knew Willow and Xander had been best friends since preschool, and Buffy had admitted to being from LA just a few days ago.

“About a year and a half ago.“ She smiled innocently, but Puck didn’t buy her act for a second.

“So you’re the reason my sweet Willow got some spice.” He bumped shoulders with Willow as she did her blushing thing.

“Sugar and spice and everything nice, that’s what Will is made of,” Xander joked, but Puck could see the feeling behind it in his eyes. And he decided to have a talk with him about that later; he knew his cousin was sweet on Xander.

“Are we still on for tonight?” Xander asked to break the tense silence that had followed his last comment.

“What happens tonight?” Puck wanted to know, since he, himself, couldn’t go out he had to live vicariously through his friends.

“Bronze –”

“Movie –”

“Studying –” came three different replies at the same time. Puck raised an eyebrow and looked around at them, waiting for an explanation.

“We’re going to study at the Bronze, and then we’ll catch a movie,” Buffy clearly lied. Puck could tell – he’d given enough phony explanations to know the difference. He just nodded in acceptance. Let them keep their secrets; he’d figure it out eventually.

“Any news about that gym-teacher?” Puck asked to get the conversation going again.

“Nothing, she just disappeared without a trace – so weird!” Xander sort of rambled; they were definitely hiding something, something _big_.

“Alright, do we have a sub?” he wanted to know next, because he could really use a free period to check out that hidden section in the library.

“No, Snyder usually doesn’t care about PE, so when the teacher is out we get a free,” Buffy explained as she stood up to leave. “I’ll see you guys later; I have some stuff to go over with Giles.” And she was gone.

When she was out of earshot Puck once again turned to his cousin.

“Buffy is one weird chick,” he said with an amused expression. Something on his face must have made Xander jump to conclusions, because the next thing he knew he was being stared down by the other boy.

“You like her, don’t you?” Xander accused with narrowed eyes and a severe frown.

“Sure I do. She’s a total babe! But since she’s got a boyfriend, I won’t go there.” Puck snickered as Xander’s expression darkened even further. Puck wondered what the hell was up with that boy. So possessive and jealous – he would really have to have a serious talk with him about his thing for Willow. The last thing he wanted for her was a broken heart on account of her best friend.

“And also there is that special someone back home – right, Noah?” Willow couldn’t help but put in. She just did not know when to shut up!

“You have a someone that’s special?” Xander asked and seemed to perk up at the thought.

“Needle!” Puck growled at Willow, and she had the decency to look guilty. He then turned to Xander to explain, “Not as such” – or maybe to just goad him further. Suddenly Puck was in the mood for a fight.

“What does that even mean?”

“None of YB!” Puck muttered and left. Behind him he heard Willow sigh “Oh, dear.” And then he was too far away to hear anything else. On his way through the halls he shoved a few nerds into a few lockers, and he even gave Larry-the-jock a good push when he walked past.

“Dude! What’s your frickin’ problem?!” Larry came after him and grabbed the back of his jacket to make him stop.

“Right now, you’re my problem!” Puck shouted back and gave him another shove. Larry shoved back and Puck stumbled into a door. He looked behind him – it was the door to the boy’s locker room – perfect! He grabbed Larry by the front of his letterman’s jacket and dragged him into the empty room. He knew no one would be in there, since there were no practices that day, and gym had been cancelled indefinitely.

When the door swung closed he quickly locked it and turned back to Larry, who was just standing there staring at him. That proved to be too much for Puck and he lunged at Larry, punching him in the jaw as they both went down. The other boy gave as good as he got, though, and soon they were just wrestling around on the floor.

Larry, being slightly larger than Puck, soon got the upper hand and had Puck pinned beneath him. Puck struggled to get away but Larry’s grip was firm. The other boy weighed him down pretty well as he straddled his thighs and held his arms down by the elbows. He couldn’t move an inch, no matter how hard he tried.

“Dude, you need to chill the hell out!” Larry growled and pressed down harder. “I know we don’t like each other very much, but, what the fuck is your problem?” Puck glared daggers at the boy holding him down, one part furious and two parts embarrassed. He’d been in a fight club, for crying out loud, and now he’d been bested by a Neanderthal football player. That shit just didn’t fly!

Then Puck realized something about Larry and a wicked gleam entered his eyes. He wriggled around some, not trying to get away but causing a delicious friction between their bodies, while watching Larry’s reactions intently. He was looking for something very special and it wasn’t long before it was written all over his face.

“Cut it out!” Larry threatened and leaned closer. And Puck could _feel_ the effect his squirming had on the other boy. If he couldn’t get a satisfying fight, he would get something of equal value, and he’d always found sex to be a perfect way to get rid of whatever emotion he didn’t want to deal with – be it anger or something more fuzzy.

An added bonus of getting Larry-the-closet-gay to do something, anything, to him, was that he would be able to figure something out that had been nagging at him for some time now. And he realized, as he lay there underneath another guy, that he liked the feel of it. But that didn’t make him gay, right? No, definitely not, he thought as he remembered how amazing it felt to have Santana moaning under him.

“Make me!” Puck challenged and raised his head off the floor as he gave his arms another tug. They stared at each other for a long few seconds, then Larry’s gaze flickered down to Pucks lips and then quickly back to his eyes. Puck smirked, but his eyes screamed _go for it_! Larry still hesitated and Puck felt his frustration grow.

“What are you afraid of?” Puck challenged again, seeing the other boy’s hesitation for what it was.

“I’m no homo,” Larry ground out, glaring at Puck as if he was the reason for everything that had ever gone wrong in the world. Puck knew that what he said next would determine what would happen in the minutes that followed. Either they would both get off, or Larry would storm out and then proceed to make Puck’s life miserable for real.

“So?”

“So, I’m no homo!” Larry said again as if repeating it would make it true.

“Neither am I, dude. But as I see it, we could help each other out. You’ve got a problem; I’ve got a problem…” Puck trailed off and Larry glanced down to his denim-covered crotch and let his eyes widened a little – Puck was hard as a rock and not ashamed to admit it.

Larry’s hands relaxed their hold on his arms; Puck took full advantage of the fact and grabbed the other boy’s hips to pull him closer. He had always enjoyed frottage, and he imagined that with another hard dick alongside his own it would feel ten times better. As Puck pulled him forwards, Larry lost his balance and had to brace his hands on the floor by Puck’s head, as to not totally crush the other boy. Their eyes locked again, but as Puck ground up against Larry, both let their eyes fall shut as they groaned in pleasure.

Their rhythm was hard and fast and if anyone had walked in on them they would have thought that the two boys were still fighting – each boy doing his best to get on top and assert his dominance over the other, neither willing to give it up. Larry was once again on top of him when Puck decided that he needed more than just over-the-clothes-frottage, so he forced his hands between their bodies and undid, first his own, and then Larry’s pants.

The larger boy moaned in agreement and helped push them down his hips, revealing boxers that were quickly pushed down too. Puck only needed to shove his jeans down, since he hadn’t bothered with underwear. Puck took both their erections in his hand and started stroking fast and hard. Larry did his part by continuing the punishing rhythm they had set before and it wasn’t long before they were both moaning their release.

After catching his breath, Puck pushed Larry off of him, stood up, pulled up his pants, said, “Thanks, dude,” and went to find a bathroom to clean up. As he left the locker room he could hear Larry swearing to himself – he was still on the floor with his pants around his ankles and his hands covering his face. Puck didn’t care, though; it’s not like they were friends. Puck felt much better, and that’s the only thing that mattered. As he walked through the halls he prodded at his face, looking for forming bruises. But the only sore spot he found was on his left jaw, and he knew the bruising would be minimal, so he didn’t worry about it.

~*~*~*~

 **End of Chapter Six**

~*~*~*~


	7. Thriller (But Without the Zombies)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Beta:** LolaAnn, RevDorothyL and MissE, any remaining mistakes are mine.
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** I am not making any money from this fanfiction. _Glee_ belongs to Ryan Murphy and the FOX network. _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ belongs to Joss Whedon.

~*~*~*~

**Chapter Seven: Thriller (But Without the Zombies)**

~*~*~*~

The library was empty when Puck finally had a chance to get back there. Buffy, Xander and Willow had disappeared earlier to do some more mysterious investigating. Puck didn’t really know what to make of his cousin and her friends, and it was starting to bug him. He _needed_ to find out what they were up to.

Puck’s nerves were wound tight as a coil as he crept through the silent library. He froze at the smallest sound and jumped at every flicker of the lights, but he was soon at the back, where he had met Giles the last time he was there. He peeked around the corner, and when he didn’t see anyone, he relaxed and went to browse Giles’ secret books. The sign above the door saying ‘Private’ was ignored completely.

The titles of the books didn’t make any sense at all to Puck – some weren’t even in English! The ones he could read had really strange titles, like _Bristow’s Demon Index_ and _Blood Rites and Sacrifices_. ‘No wonder Giles didn’t want anyone to see this,’ Puck thought as he took a random book off the shelf. He didn’t even bother to look at the title before opening it.

The book opened to a picture, much like the ones Mr. Peterson, the history teacher at McKinley, liked to show them on the overhead projector, except it was way weirder. Instead of nuns in boring orchards or ancient kings in grand halls, it depicted a gruesome battle. But the figures in it didn’t look exactly like people, some had horns and quite a few were seriously messed up in the face area. It wasn’t like anything he had ever seen before. And it was awesome!

Puck wondered if all the books were like this one. If he sucked up to Giles enough, maybe he would be able to spend some real time in there. He put the book back where he found it and continued his perusal of the shelves. On the bottom shelf of the last bookcase he found an interesting book, he felt drawn to it like a moth to a flame. It was thick, leather-bound, and quite scary looking. On the front cover was written only one word: _Vampyr_.

He didn’t care if he was stealing; he had to read that book! He quickly shoved it in his book-bag and left the private section. As he rounded the corner of the sections for biology and chemistry, he bumped into Giles. Puck froze in his tracks, but forced himself to relax. The quickest way to get busted was to look guilty, so he greeted the librarian and turned to pull a chemistry book off a random shelf.

“I’d like to borrow this, Mr. Giles.” He held the book up and headed to the checkout counter. A little while later, as he passed through the swinging doors, Puck heaved a relieved sigh and thought it was a fantastic thing that they didn’t have those alarm things by the doors like they have at McKinley.

~*~

Later that evening, when Puck had finished his chores and spent some time on the back porch with his guitar, he felt that the only thing that could make his life perfect in that moment would be if the entire Glee Club would come singing around the corner.

But, as Puck had told Kurt in his latest e-mail, he didn’t think that he would see them any time soon. Not only was Puck’s sentence set for 6 months, but he didn’t think he’d be back in Lima before senior year. A year and a half was a really long time, but maybe he’d be allowed to go home for Hanukkah.

If he did, he’d throw a Glee party and maybe get Kurt drunk, so he would be open to the idea of making out with Puck. Puck had no illusions about himself – he knew he was a total stud and pretty much irresistible – but Kurt had, like, standards and shit. He was the kind of person who wanted romance and, like, commitment. Something Puck had never been very good at, at all.

Puck thought back to what happened with Larry in the locker room and imagined what it would be like to do that with Kurt. Except for where Larry had been brutal and forceful, Kurt would be soft and kind of bossy – but in a totally hot way. As Puck continued to compare the two, Uncle Ira poked his head out the door, scaring him half to death, making him jump and almost drop his guitar to the ground.

“Noah, it’s 7, time to get inside.” Puck sighed and moseyed his way inside the house, up the stairs and to his room. Being confined like this really sucked. He could forget that he was being punished for a few hours every day at school, but as soon as he got home he could _feel_ the restrictions like chains on his mind and soul. He was slowly being suffocated, and he had to do something about it.

His only escape had been his music, and he’d written some pretty awesome material, but the sex shark in him was beginning to get restless. He felt like a lion, trapped in a cage, pacing back and forth – just waiting for his chance to break free. Puck slumped in his desk-chair, not exactly feeling like doing homework. If Willow had been around he might have gotten something done, but she was out with Buffy and Xander, doing whatever it is they do.

He heaved a bored sigh and grabbed his book bag from where it lay on the floor next to the desk. As he took his books out, his spirits lifted a little when he found the book he’d borrowed from Giles’ private collection earlier. He put the heavy book on his desk and just stared at it for a long time. He had a feeling that he was about to find out the mystery of Buffy Summers – her secret – and he was nervous. He opened the book to the first page, not knowing what to expect, but for some weird reason he was surprised at what he found.

The first thing he noticed was the drawing of a face. The dude was clearly a freak; no normal person looked like that. The forehead was seriously deformed with lumps and bumps where it should have been flat and smooth skin, the eyes looked more animal than human, and not to mention the teeth on the dude! Puck knew without a doubt that what he was looking at was a monster, and it looked too real to be made up.

 _Vampires were real_. He had to sit back and let that sink in for a minute. Then his curiosity got the better of him and he just had to read on. Two hours later, Puck had skimmed the whole book, reading the parts that seemed interesting, which were mostly gory details about particularly sadistic demons that Puck was sure were going to give him nightmares but read anyway and skipped the rest.

The book must have been as old as it looked. The language was practically archaic and impossible to understand at times. At midnight, Uncle Ira knocked on his door and told him “lights out”. Puck grumbled, but did as he was told. He took the book with him to bed and before he turned off his bedside lamp he finished the passage he had been reading before Ira interrupted.

> _Into every generation a Slayer is born. One Girl in all the world, a Chosen One, one born with the strength and skill to hunt the Vampires; to stop the spread of Their Taint and to rid the world of Evil. She alone will stand against the Vampires, the Demons and the Forces of Darkness. She is the Slayer._

The short passage made Puck’s skin crawl, it sounded so ominous. He thought about his little sister and wondered if anything like that could ever happen to her. 

As Puck slept he dreamt of Vampires, Slayers, and his little sister fighting the forces of evil. He woke up in a cold sweat the next morning.

~*~

Before he got sent to Sunnydale, Puck hadn’t attended a single math class since eighth grade, and he felt that he had pretty much had the right idea about skipping that particular class. A nap in the nurse’s office was definitely preferable to an hour crunching numbers he didn’t even understand 75% of the time. The only upside to math class was that he shared it with Willow, Buffy and Xander.

And as he watched them, with everything his borrowed book had told him fresh in his memory, he couldn’t really say that it made a difference. They were still a huge mystery! Though Buffy’s occasional hisses when someone accidentally got too close made more sense since Puck had learned about the things that go bump in the night; she had been fighting and gotten her ass _handed_ to her.

“You alright, Summers?” Puck asked as they left the classroom. He was worried that she was more hurt than she was letting on.

“Yeah, Buff,” Xander agreed. “You seem to be big with the hissing and shying away from physical contact today. What’s up with that?”

“It’s no big. I ran into Spike and his crew last night, and we went a few rounds is all.” Buffy shrugged it off, but Puck saw the concern in his cousin’s eyes as she watched her best friend. This Spike guy was obviously bad news.

“So, Spike’s a friend of yours, Summers?” Puck asked, wagging his eyebrows a little to give his words the right meaning. And so far her friends had been a little on the odd side of strange: a British librarian who knows a lot of freaky things, a ‘ _foreign exchange student_ ’ who went missing after a few days and a mysterious older boyfriend who neither Willow, Xander, nor Giles seemed that crazy about.

“Not really. He’s trying to kill me,” Buffy said with a joking smile. She thought she could fool him with the truth, but he knew better – now.

~*~

That night, Puck waited anxiously for the rest of the family to go to sleep. Willow had been out late again with Buffy and Xander; she’d come home quite chipper, so he figured they’d had some kind of breakthrough or something. When the clock in the dining room chimed midnight, Puck snuck out. It was a good thing that he had had plenty of practice getting out of houses from second-story windows, otherwise he would have ended up with a broken leg – or worse.

When he’d gotten far enough from the house to feel safe, he slowed down from a brisk jog to a casual stroll. He thought about where he was more likely to find what he was looking for and headed downtown with a loose plan of seeing what the big deal was about this Bronze place. The way everybody at school was talking about it, it seemed to be the best thing since free internet porn.

He heard the music before he saw the people – which seemed promising. You could say a lot against Sunnydale, but the females were playing in a completely different league than the girls in Lima. He paid the bouncer a few bucks and was let inside – he wasn’t even carded, which was great, since everyone under 21 got a stamp on their hand stating their underageness. Puck could totally get hammered at the Bronze!

He was sitting at the bar nursing a beer as he watched some girls dancing in a tight formation in the middle of the floor. It was Cordelia Chase and her Cheerleader drones. The blonde one, dancing next to the queen bee herself, was kind of cute. A bit of an airhead, if Puck remembered correctly, but that didn’t matter between the sheets. Just look at Brittney: dumb as a post but an animal in the sack.

Puck was contemplating putting the moves on her when Larry came up behind her and started a stiff and stilted ‘bump and grind’ kind of dance with her; her back to his chest, his hands on her hips and his mouth against her ear, probably trying to convince her to ‘ _go someplace more quiet_ ’. Puck snorted a laugh and wondered who that boy was trying to kid. The blonde – Harmony, Puck remembered her name was – nodded coyly and led him off the dance floor. As they passed by Puck he raised his beer in salute and licked his lips. Larry went as red as a fire-truck and hurried to follow Harmony out.

As they disappeared, Puck went back to watching the, still dancing, group of girls. One by one the girls were swept off by one guy after another and soon it was only Cordelia and one other girl left. Puck studied the vicious brunette and realized that the smile on her lips was as fake as coach Sylvester’s age and anecdotes put together. And he felt sorry for her.

He decided then that some angry sex with one of the hottest pieces of ass in Sunnydale was not a bad way to spend an evening. Puck knew she’d go with him the second he started a much more competent ‘bump and grind’ with her than Larry had managed with Blondie. He knew he was a good dancer, and Cordelia wasn’t half bad herself. He just hoped she wasn’t wound as tight as she sometimes seemed.

He had a flashback to a particularly frustrating make-out session with Berry a few months back. Thank the Lord for cougars: without them he would have had a record case of blue-balls. Girls just didn’t know how ‘not getting any’ affected a guy because it wasn’t like that for them – they had no problem stopping just when it was getting good, or holding out for an _eternity_. Girls didn’t get blue-what-ever-it-is-they-have. Well, maybe Santana did. She could go totally homicidal if she didn’t get it regularly. She could get downright scary.

“You’re better at this than the average Sunnydale male,” Cordelia murmured in his ear during a slow song.

“Course I am; I’m badass.” He smirked, though she couldn’t see it, and she laughed like he’d told the most awesome joke she’d ever heard – he didn’t get it.

“Are you questioning my badassness? Have you seen my guns?” He could feel his bruised ego like a physical pain in the back of his mind.

“You’re cute, Puckerman, and you might be a big deal where you’re from. But here, you’re not even close to the _least_ badass thing that goes bump in the night.” She laughed quietly against his neck.

“I’d like to bump you tonight,” Puck said in a tone that had bagged him plenty of cheerleaders in the past.

“I’ll give you an 8.5 for originality; I haven’t heard that one before.” She laughed again, and Puck didn’t know if he was supposed to be insulted that she was laughing at him or pleased that she seemed to like what he was saying.

“Do you want to go someplace a little more horizontal?” Puck asked and turned them so they were both facing the exit.

“Again with the originality; I’m impressed.”

“I aim to please.”

“You know I have a boyfriend, right?”

“You mean that Neanderthal of a QB?”

“That’s right; the Razorbacks’ star quaterback.” She sounded smug, as if his position on the team was hers as well.

“You mean that asshole over there, talking to that chick in hooker wear?” Puck pointed, and he felt Cordelia tense in his arms.

“Forget about him, babe. We’ll make sure to bump into him on our way out and he can consider himself officially dumped. You’re way too badass to hang with that loser anyway.”

“You’re right, screw him!” She turned around in his arms so they were facing each other again. She ran her fingers through the short hairs on the back of his head, applying the tiniest amount of pressure, but Puck didn’t need much coaxing. He leaned in and kissed her.

“Come on,” she said as they pulled apart again, “let’s go.” As they went, Puck held his part of the deal and bumped his shoulder hard against Cordelia’s ex. It didn’t seem to affect him much, though Puck shoved hard enough to almost dislocate his own shoulder.

What neither Puck nor Cordelia saw as they left the club was that the guy and his new squeeze followed them out. Cordelia dragged him to the dark parking lot, where her car waited. She had nice wheels, Puck had to admit it. But it was no Navigator; not much could compete with Hummel’s tricked-out ride.

As they reached her car, Puck pressed her up against it and started kissing her again. It was great, and she was really good at it, but there was still something that wasn’t quite right. He was getting into it, though. Their kisses kept getting hotter, and soon they were both panting with want. All of a sudden Puck was flying though the air and landing hard in a pile of trash. He could hear Cordelia’s indignant “Hey!” and then her terrified scream as her ex crowded her against the car.

The girl in hooker wear was approaching Puck, and he could only watch as she got closer and closer. Having the wind knocked out of him made him pretty much useless for a few minutes, until he could get back on his feet and fight. Before he could get his breath back, the girl was on him. Her face messed up like that dude in the picture, and Puck was sure he was going to die. And he really, _really_ didn’t want to die.

He felt a sharp pain in his neck and, for a moment, he thought the bitch had cut him, and then he realized with rising panic that she had _bitten_ him and that she was _sucking_ his blood. He started fighting, using everything and anything he could to get free, but she was too strong. Over his attacker’s shoulder he could see that Cordelia was only doing slightly better than himself. She was holding her ground with a crucifix extended in her left hand and a stake raised in her right. The big quarterback was growling and lunging at her, trying to knock the cross out of her hand, but so far she had managed to keep him at a distance.

“Hey, asshole!” he heard a female voice call from somewhere off to his left. “Go pick on someone my own size.” And the guy attacking Cordelia went up in a cloud of dust before he could even turn around. As soon as the new person had given themselves away, the girl attached to Puck’s neck took off at a run in the opposite direction.

“Puck!” Cordelia cried and fell to her knees next to him.

“Your dress is torn,” Puck observed before he passed out.

~*~

When he came to, he was laying on a hard, flat surface – not the ground, but probably a table or something like that.

“…back, but the other one got away… cemetery tonight…” The words sounded like he was hearing them through water, and even though he had his eyes closed the light hurt his eyes. He groaned, and then he felt a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“You’ll be alright, Puck,” a girl’s voice said next to him, and he groaned again because it really didn’t feel like he was going to even survive the next minute.

“Buffy, help me sit him up. We need to get some fluid in him now that he’s conscious. We really should have taken him to the hospital, this is quite dangerous!” a clipped British voice said, and Puck figured it had to be Giles.

When Buffy propped him up, he felt his stomach roil in an unsettling manner, like it wanted to remind him of everything he had ever eaten. He pursed his lips and swallowed hard to make the feeling go away; he was only partially successful. The hand he’d felt on his shoulder before, moved to stroke over his hair, making him aware that Cordelia must still be at his side. He relaxed into her touch and felt grateful that she was there.

“Here, Noah, you need to drink this.” He felt the rim of a glass against his mouth, Puck felt too weak to argue, so he did as Giles asked. When the glass was empty, he was laid back down, but he did feel better. Whatever had been in that glass – he was sure it wasn’t water – had worked like magic. And Puck wouldn’t be all that surprised to find out that it was magic. Not after reading that book and not after what had happened tonight. A whole new terrifying world had opened up for him, and he was _not_ scared, because badasses are not afraid of anything.

~*~*~*~

**End of Chapter Seven**

~*~*~*~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are love, people! =)


	8. The Morning After (I Was Almost Killed)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Betaed by LolaAnn, MissE and RevDorothyL. You guys are amazing!!
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** I am not making any money from this fanfiction. _Glee_ belongs to Ryan Murphy and the FOX network. _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ belongs to Joss Whedon.

**~*~*~*~**

** Chapter Eight: The Morning After (I was almost killed) **

**~*~*~*~**

Puck had no idea how he got there, but he woke up in his own bed the next morning. For a second he wondered if it had all been just a terrible dream, but as he shifted he felt the bandage on his neck and he sucked in a deep breath. Because he had kind of hoped that it all been just a nightmare, after all – a very vivid, scary as shit nightmare. 

He lay in his bed, just breathing for a few minutes, trying to come to terms with what had happened the night before. He refused to freak out. There was nothing to freak out about. So, he had almost died and a freaky vampire chick had used him as a chew toy; really, no need to freak out. When Willow knocked on his door and told him that breakfast was on the table, he made himself roll out of bed. That’s when he noticed that he was still fully dressed.

“Willow, could you come in here a sec?” He was grateful that it was Saturday and that they didn’t have school, because he had no idea how he was supposed to focus on classes when he knew that vampires were real. 

“What’s up, Noah?” Willow asked as she closed the door behind her. Puck stared at her for a long time, wondering how she could act like everything was normal and that the world as he knew it hadn’t come to a terrifying end just a few hours ago. 

“Are you ok?” She took a few steps closer and brought him out of the trance he had slipped into.

“Cordelia and I were attacked last night,” Puck said and waited for Willow’s ‘horrified’ face. But she only looked kind of pissed-off and gave him a glare that could easily melt a glacier. 

“I know. You shouldn’t have snuck out like that. You’re grounded!”

“Well, I didn’t exactly, really believe that all that vampire crap was real, not really. And I was going crazy being locked up like this! And how was I supposed to know that Cordelia’s ex was a vampire, huh?”

“Darren’s a vampire?” Now Willow looked shocked and kind of sad.

“Not anymore,” Puck grumbled a little, because – hello! A little sympathy for the neck wound _would_ be nice.

“Buffy told me she got one of them,” Willow said and looked down at her shoes, shuffling her feet a little.

“So, are you going to rat me out?” Puck asked, a little worried that he would get into more trouble with his uncle.

“No, but I should!” Willow glared at him again, but Puck smiled at her and gave her a hug – he was only a little surprised when she hugged him back and kind of sniffled a little, like she was trying not to cry. 

“Hey, what’s the matter?” he asked softly.

“I was so afraid when Buffy called and said that you had been attacked. You don’t know anything about vampires, and you can’t defend against them.” She stepped back and punched him hard in the arm.

“Ow! What the hell, Willow?”

“That was for scaring me. Don’t do it again.” She jumped a little when Uncle Ira called them from the kitchen a second later, telling them to hurry up or eat cold waffles. As they went down the stairs Willow told him that after breakfast they were going to have a lesson in Vampology and then on Monday she would take him to his first Scooby meeting – whatever the hell that was. He hoped it wasn’t something totally lame like the Crime Club at McKinley. Which sounded cool and totally badass, but all they did was solve fake cases and play _Clue_ on the weekends. There weren’t even any hot babes in that club. The Chess Club had more sex-appeal than those dweebs.

Puck practically inhaled his breakfast, he was eating so fast. While he was shoveling eggs and fake bacon into his mouth like he hadn’t seen food in months, he was kind of wondering what Willow might be able to teach him that wasn’t in that book. He hadn’t had a chance to read it thoroughly, but he thought it might be a good idea to read the parts he skipped. And now that he had firsthand experience, he wouldn’t be so quick in underestimating their speed and strength. Seriously, he knew he wasn’t weak in any way, but he had had no chance against that girl – who was freaking tiny, by the way!

“Noah, you’re going to choke on yolk if you don’t slow down. And you have chores to do after breakfast, so you have no time for being dead.” Ira frowned at him and Puck could tell that he wanted to ask about the white compress on his neck, but wasn’t sure he really wanted to know.

Willow noticed too and she said, “I’m really sorry about before, Noah: if I knew you were shaving I wouldn’t have pounded on the door like that – making you jump and, you know, with the slipping of the razor and then the bleeding, and you know, you have a _really_ filthy mouth on you, mister.” Willow had a serious face during her little monologue, matching her expression perfectly to what she was saying – shamed, apologetic, embarrassed and then just a little bit reprimanding at the end.

Puck looked at her like he’d never seen her before and wondered when his sweet, innocent, kind-of-geeky cousin had learned how to lie. He figured it might have been in the last 18 months or so. Buffy Summers had been good for Willow in a lot of ways, but sometimes Puck just wanted the old Willow back. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his shin; Willow had kicked him because he had gotten lost in his thoughts again and taken too long to answer. 

“Sure, no problem. No one got killed, right?” He smirked at her and she scowled, because she knew how close he had gotten to being dead for real. Puck went back to shoveling food in his mouth, Willow nibbled on her toast, and Uncle Ira left to get some work done at the office. He would probably be gone all day.

“Are you done?” Willow asked as she started putting dishes in the dishwasher. 

“Yeah. You want to hang while I paint the fence? I have to get it done today; it’s gonna rain tomorrow.” 

“Sure thing. We can have your Vampology lesson while you paint. You can paint and listen at the same time, right?” 

~*~

It turns out Willow knew _a lot_ about vampires. Much more than that book had told him. Like the fact that vamps did not look like total freaks all the time; they actually had real faces to hide behind too. Something Puck could probably have figured out for himself, if he’d thought about it for two seconds.

After Willow was done telling him all about vampires she went on to freak him out about demons and shit like that. By the time he had finished the first coat he was pretty much wigged out and was seriously considering hiding under his bed until he got to go back home to Lima.

Probably the worst part about knowing all this was that he wasn’t allowed to talk about it. How people in Sunnydale could possibly not know what was going on in their graveyards he didn’t understand. They were like those monkeys – see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, or some shit like that.

He was a little bit angry that not one adult seemed to want to know what was going on. Didn’t they think it was suspicious that a tiny place like Sunnydale had more unsolved murders and mysterious disappearances per capita than cities like New York, Los Angeles, or even frickin’ Vegas? He was astounded by how blind these people were. Willow tried to explain that it was easier for them to look the other way than to accept that there were actual monsters in the world. Puck could see her point, but still thought that the majority of Sunnydale’s population must be on drugs not to notice what was going on. 

Willow didn’t hang around for the second coat. She said the gang had something to take care of and that it was pretty important or she would blow it off to spend more time with him. They didn’t really have much time outside of school to hang out, but Puck had a lot to think about so he didn’t mind.

If he was going to be honest with himself, he was kind of grateful that Willow had to leave. He felt a little freaked out and he didn’t want her there if his brain decided that he needed to breakdown for a while. As it was, he was alone for the rest of the day. Uncle Ira came home in time to make dinner, and Aunt Sheila and Willow didn’t show up until pretty late. Puck had already retired to his room by then, nursing a sore shoulder and a stiff neck. 

**~*~*~*~**

**End of Chapter Eight**

**~*~*~*~**


	9. Brave New World -- Or, You Know, the Same One + Monsters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Beta: LolaAnn, MissE and RevDorothyL – the most wonderfull betas a girl could ask for!
> 
>  **A/N2:** I’m planning to go over this story and revise some important details. So keep an eye out for new revised chapters (if you’re interested).

~*~*~*~

** Chapter Nine: Brave New World  
– Or, You Know, the Same one + Monsters **

~*~*~*~

After a week of not much happening Puck was healed and pretty much back to normal. He had been caught up with a few of the gang’s past adventures and was still trying to process the whole idea that monsters were real. So when Puck and Willow arrived at school that Monday, they met up with Buffy and Xander in the student lounge as usual before first period. The _Vampyr_ book was heavy in his backpack, but he was planning on giving it back to Giles when they went to the library at lunch. There was to be a Scooby meeting and his first official introduction to the world of Demon fighting. The chemistry book he had checked out as a cover was still in his locker, untouched – that would have to be returned soon, too, or he would have to pay the late fee. Puck heaved a sigh and slumped in his seat on the couch next to Willow.

“What’s with you, Puck-man? Usually, you’re not one for the deep sighs,” Xander said from across the coffee-table.

“He’s just anxious about that thing we’re gonna do at lunch,” Willow said helpfully, before Puck could draw breath to reply. Puck smiled at her, then he looked back to Xander and smirked for maximum effect.

“Nah, it’s Giles, man. I sort of stole a book from the library a few weeks ago.” He had not anticipated the reaction he got as three pairs of eyes pinned him to the couch cushions.

“Which book?” Buffy asked in a very scary tone of voice, and Puck knew that he wasn’t looking at Buffy Summers anymore – he was looking at the Slayer.

“Does it matter?” Puck asked carefully.

“Yes,” all three said together – and that was kind of scary too.

“Huh, it’s some weird old book, scary looking, says _Vampyr_ on the front cover. The dude who wrote it couldn’t spell worth a damn either, I spell better than that guy and sometimes even I have trouble guessing what I’ve written.” As Puck mentioned the title of the book Willow, Buffy and Xander seemed to relax and tense up at the same time.

“That was the one that didn’t fit,” Willow said after a few seconds of complete silence.

“At least we can cross _insane vampires resurrecting the Master_ off the list,” Xander said quietly, since students were starting to fill the halls.

“At least there is that,” Buffy agreed and slumped back against the couch. Puck looked from one to the other, but couldn’t quite figure out if they were relieved or terrified.

“So, what does that mean?” Puck asked after a few more minutes of tense silence.

“It means that apocalypse season is coming early this year,” Willow said and leaned against him. Puck looked at her in disbelief, not knowing if she was serious or if she was exaggerating.

“But, what about the books? Someone else robbed the library?”

“Yeah, some _thing_ did. We don’t even know who or what it could be. We thought it might be vamps since the _Vampyr_ book was missing too, but now we just don’t know anymore,” Buffy said, sounding kind of depressed over the fact.

“Sorry,” Puck offered, and he meant it. If he’d known that he would cause his friends so much trouble he would never have taken it.

“Don’t get me wrong; Giles will, without a doubt, glare at you and sigh disappointedly, but there is definite relief that it was you, and not the evil undead, who took that book,” Willow said from where she rested her head on his shoulder.

“Yes, definite happies about that. No one wants to face the Master again,” Xander glanced over at Buffy, who was looking decidedly green around the gills.

“Who’s this Master guy?” Puck wanted to know and felt Willow tense against him. Xander’s eyes snapped between him and Buffy nervously; it was obvious, to anyone who bothered to look, that Puck was clogdancing all over a raw nerve.

“He was a vampire – a very old, very powerful vampire. I died killing him,” Buffy said, and the topic was officially closed. A tense silence descended over the four friends.

“So, do you know who she was?” Willow wondered after a few strained seconds. Puck figured she was continuing a conversation from earlier, possibly from the very important phone call that morning that just couldn’t wait until the two girls saw one another at school.

“Her who? Oh! I’ve never seen her before; she had really dark hair and an old-fashioned dress, very pretty.” Buffy looked kind of sad, and when Willow asked her next question, Puck figured Buffy wasn’t far from tears.

“Do you think she was a… grrr?” Willow screwed up her face in an imitation of a vampire’s monster mask.

“Maybe. I don’t know. They looked pretty friendly from where I was lurking.”

“Rewind an hour… Who looked friendly?” Xander, always the oblivious one, asked.

“Angel and some girl,” Puck sneered at Xander in a _keep up_ kind of way.

“Sorry for having my mind somewhere that is not here,” Xander groused, but continued in a more upbeat tone “But it sounds to me like the Buffster needs some cheering up! Let’s all go to Bronze tonight, I’ll buy drinks.”

“I’d suggest Oreos dunked in apple juice, but maybe she’s over that phase.” Buffy twisted in her seat to get a look at who was speaking and as soon as she laid eyes on him, she jumped up with a squealed “Ford!”

“I’m assuming we know this guy, and are _very_ happy to see him,” Xander deadpanned while he watched Buffy and the new guy closely. Puck renewed his plans of talking to Xander about his jealous possessiveness towards the girls, but he kept an eye on the guy. There was something about that dude that didn’t sit right with him.

“Oreos and apple juice? That’s seriously nasty… not even Britt would eat that,” Puck muttered, but was ignored, or not heard, over Buffy’s newfound enthusiasm.

“Ford, meet my friends: Willow, Puck and Xander. Guys, this is Ford.” Willow gave Ford a little wave, Xander jerked his head in what was supposed to be a nod, and Puck greeted the new guy with a nod and a “sup.”

“We went to Hemery together, in L.A,” Buffy explained as she linked her arm with Ford’s, Puck smirked as Xander frowned.

“I’m sensing history,” Puck said, smiling, with his arm around Willow. “Tell the truth, Summers, are you two old sweethearts?” Xander’s frown got noticeably darker, and when Puck laughed at him he got pinched in the side by Willow. The nagging feeling that there was something more to Ford than met the eye, kept reminding him not to let his guard down in front of him. But he could play the cool relaxed badass if he had to, joking around and teasing with his friends.

“Don’t I wish,” Buffy said and glanced up at Ford. “I had the biggest crush in fifth grade, but he wouldn’t give me the time of day.”

“Please, I was a studly sixth grader; I couldn’t go for someone that young.” Ford smiled and put an arm around Buffy’s shoulders as if to say, ‘I was so stupid back then, but now I’ve seen the error of my ways.’ Puck snorted, wondering when the gangly half-dweeb had ever been studly. 

“I need to find the admissions office, to get all those papers in order,” Ford said after they all shared a laugh over Buffy’s old humiliation. Puck just thought that he wanted to get away from Xander’s glare, or maybe he just wanted to get Buffy alone.

“I’ll take you there,” Buffy said and dragged Ford down the hall by his arm. Halfway out the door they could hear her ask if he wanted to come to the Bronze that night. She didn’t need to convince him – he accepted before she had even finished asking. That set Xander off again, grumbling about attractive guys from L.A ruining his chances. Willow pretended that she couldn’t hear him, but turned to Puck.

“He was nice; I liked him.”

“I don’t know,” Puck glanced down at her. “I thought he was kind of shifty.”

“Right! He was very shifty with his shiftiness all over our Buffy,” Xander exclaimed, almost falling out of his seat in his excitement. Xander’s shouting seemed to work like a summoning charm for principals, because – without them noticing – Principal Snyder was there, glaring at them.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” he asked with his creepy little voice, and squinting his rat-like eyes. It was like it physically hurt him to look at them. Willow jumped up immediately with a slightly panicked expression.

“French! I can’t be tardy. I’ve never been tardy, and if I’m tardy it’s gonna be on my permanent record! And teachers will look at me and say, ‘Willow, you are a tardy person who is tardy’. Come on, Xander, we need to hurry!” She grabbed hold of Xander and took off, dragging him behind her like a ragdoll. Puck remained where he was, looking up at Snyder calm as can be.

“Puckerman,” Snyder said in a warning tone, glaring at Puck as if he offended the law just by existing.

“Principal Snyder,” Puck said, as if he was greeting the man and not making fun of him.

“Get your pimply butt to class, boy, or I swear I will suspend you. And I hear you are already in considerable trouble. I wonder what a suspension would add to your punishment?” Snyder smirked as if he had won some kind of twisted game, but Puck had an answer ready for him.

“I don’t think it would do very much to add to it, sir. I would just have more time to practice on my guitar.” He heaved himself up from the couch and strutted down the hallway towards his Spanish class, feeling accomplished and more badass than he’d felt since long before Sectionals.

~*~

Puck was out of his seat as soon as the bell rang to signal the end of the last class before lunch. He was first out of the classroom and was sprinting towards his locker before many students had even filled the halls. He met up with Willow and Xander on his way to the library, and he thought that it was strange that Buffy wasn’t with them. It wasn’t often you saw one without the other two, or two without the other one.

“Hey, Wills, Xander, where is Buffy?” Puck asked as he came up behind them.

“She’s at the library already. Giles wanted her help with...,” Willow started but was interrupted by Xander. 

“Taxes!” he exclaimed, and looked almost as surprised, at what came out of his mouth as Puck and Willow felt.

“What? That doesn’t even make sense,” Willow chastised her friend as they pushed through the swinging doors of the library. They were greeted by the sight of Buffy, sitting at the big table surrounded by several tall stacks of books. She looked up as she heard the doors close and was out of her chair in no time at all.

“Yay! My friends are here!” she called out in a sing-song voice and went to pull them all into a group hug. As she held them she whispered, “Help me! He’s gone bonkers,” in an urgent tone. Willow’s eyes went round and she wanted to know what Giles was doing that was so crazy.

“He’s making me do research, Will, research!” Buffy continued in that same urgent whisper.

“Oh, Buffy, that _is_ madness,” Willow said with genuine sympathy.

“That’s what I said. You gotta help me,” Buffy pleaded and looked each of them in the eye, Puck was surprised to see that there was actual pain there. He patted her a little on the shoulder, but it was kind of awkward and he only got in a pat or two before he had to pull his hand back.

“Don’t sweat it, Buff, we’ve got your back.” Xander didn’t feel the awkwardness Puck felt in this situation, and he didn’t have any problem with putting his hand on Buffy’s shoulder, almost at her neck, and giving it a long squeeze.

“Oh, good, you’re here,” Giles said from where he had appeared from behind a bookcase, carrying even more books to add to the stacks.

“Please don’t let him make me do more research,” Buffy begged, “I’ve been reading for like 15 minutes and I can’t take any more.”

Puck nodded in understanding, because no one likes homework, right?

“Willow,” Giles sighed and took his glasses off to clean, “what is Noah doing here?” Willow looked from Giles to Puck and back again with a little frown, like she was trying to figure out why he _shouldn’t_ be there.

“ _Noah_ is standing right here, dude: you could just ask me,” Puck said, and he could feel that part of him rising again, the part that threw losers in dumpsters and locked geeks in port-a-potties. Puck could admit that Giles was kind of cool, in a stuffy British way, but he did not like being ignored, and he would not stand for it.

“That was rude of me, of course; I do apologize. Noah, what _are_ you doing here?” Giles turned to Puck, and he could feel that Giles wasn’t in the greatest mood for some reason, and that he was quickly losing his patience. This made Puck feel better, so he shrugged and said, “Willow invited me,” then he went and sat down in Buffy’s vacated chair.

“Willow! He is looking at the books, _why_ is he looking at the books?” Giles was pointing at Puck with his glasses as he was glaring at Willow.

“Calm down, Giles; you’ll give yourself an aneurism,” Buffy said as she walked past him to join Puck at the table. “He’s already read the _Vampyr_ book. I’d say it’s too late to hide anything, anyway.”

“He has _what_? Noah, what is she talking about? How did you get that book? It was stolen several weeks ago.” Giles was rubbing his glasses again, looking from Xander to Buffy to Willow to Puck and then back again. 

“Yeah, I stole it. Sorry about that.” Puck took the book, along with his lunch in its brown bag, from his backpack and put it on the table. The cover had hardly touched wood before Giles was there to pick it up and inspect every page for damage.

“This book is over three centuries old; if you’ve harmed it in any way I will have your hide,” Giles cautioned as he thumbed through the pages, carefully examining every edge and lining. “How he even found the private section is, of course, something I have to look into. Maybe the charms are failing,” Giles muttered to himself as he walked away from the main area of the library to, presumably, return the _Vampyr_ book to its rightful space.

“Do any of you have any idea what he’s talking about?” Puck asked as they all stared after their annoyed teacher. 

“None whatsoever,” Buffy said as the other two just shook their heads. Willow sat down in a chair across the table from Puck, and Xander took the only seat open, to Willow’s left, and they each grabbed a book from two different piles. Puck stared at them for a few seconds before hesitantly picking up a book of his own.

~*~

“So, what are we reading about?” Puck asked after a while, since he wasn’t getting a lot of what he was reading.

“We’re working off the assumption that the Anointed One is up to something, so we need to find out what. And now we’re reading books on prophecies to see if anything is foretold,” Willow answered from behind her book, not looking up but continuing to read and flip pages at a rapid pace.

“So, how much trouble can this ointment guy make? ‘Cause he doesn’t sound scary, like, at all.” Puck’s statement was met with incredulous silence, but he just kept flipping through the book. He looked up at the others and noticed them watching him as if he’d told them that he didn’t like jelly doughnuts.

“The _Anointed One_ is a lot of trouble, not just because he has more powers than the garden variety vamp, but because no one would suspect him to be that evil. I mean he looks like a sweet little kid,” Buffy explained, looking kind of sad as she absently looked at whatever pictures she could find in the thick book in front of her.

“It’s been pretty quiet for a while now, not even that many new vamps around. So we figure he’s planning something. I’m hoping it’s a party, but I don’t think that’s it.” Xander put down the first book and reached for a second, almost knocking a tower of books down over Willow’s head in the process.

“A kid Vampire? That’s just wrong in so many ways,” Puck muttered as he went back to his book and reached for his bagged lunch – he had an apple in there that was just screaming his name.

“No eating in the library!” Giles called from some dark corner of the library, where he couldn’t possibly see what they were doing at the table. Puck’s hand froze halfway inside the bag, his fingertips barely touching the apple, and with eyes wide in astonishment he looked up at his friends. The others just looked back with wide eyes of their own, shrugging to answer Puck’s unasked question. He quickly pulled his hand back; he really didn’t want to get Giles angry again. When he first met the librarian, Puck hadn’t thought that he could ever be afraid of the man. But when Giles threatened to skin him, he could tell that he meant it and that he could, and _would_ , do it if he wanted to.

~*~

“So,” Puck said after putting his first book aside and picking up a new one, “what’s up with that gym teacher?”

“What?” Buffy asked from beside him, clearly confused by the abrupt change of subject.

“Last week you said something about a pattern and you wanted Willow to hack the school to check it out. Then Xander went all rambly with the explanation when I asked about the gym teacher. And then there was that ‘studying at the Bronze, catching a movie,’ lie. So I figure the gym teacher’s disappearance has something to do with something. Am I wrong?” Puck looked from Buffy to Willow, skipping Xander since he was very into the book in front of his face.

“Umm, no, you’re not wrong, but we took care of that already. I’m kind of amazed that you put that together, Noah.” There was no mistaking Willow’s shock over Puck’s ability to put seemingly unrelated pieces together and come to an accurate conclusion. Puck frowned at his cousin and huffed in annoyance.

“I might not be as smart as you, Will, but I’m not stupid.”

“I know you’re not, Noah – of course you’re not stupid!” She said, leaning towards him and staring him intently in the eye.

“Yeah, whatever… hey, what about this? _‘There will be a time of crisis, of worlds hanging in the balance. And in this time shall come the Anointed, the Master’s greatest Warrior. And the Slayer will not know him, will not stop him and he will lead her into…_ ’ oh, shit.” Puck quickly looked up from the page, staring wide-eyed at the girl next to him. She seemed a little pale but he didn’t know if it was because of what he had read or because of the thoughts running through her head. She had been a little subdued for a while.

“I distinctly remember a severe lack of that in the Master’s chamber; he was surprisingly clean for a guy trapped in a cave for over 70 years,” Buffy stated as the silence stretched out in the library.

“Are you serious?” Puck asked with raised eyebrows, but before anyone could say anything else the double doors to the library swung open. Puck, Willow and Buffy all turned their heads to see who it was. Xander, however, was still lost in his book and didn’t even flinch as the doors clattered closed again.

“There you are, Buffy, I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Ford smiled as he came closer, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. Ford’s gaze flickered between the other three teenagers around the table, and then lingered on the books for just a second too long to be casual. Puck frowned at this and when Ford noticed he quickly looked away and focused his attention on Buffy, who had jumped out of her chair as soon as she saw him walk through the door. Puck noticed that his eyes didn’t look higher than her chest. Sure Buffy was hot, but you didn’t just ogle a girl’s boobs when she was looking right at you.

“Here I am,” Buffy smiled back at her old friend for a beat before letting it fall as she asked “What do you want?”

“I, umm…”Ford’s eyes went back to Buffy’s face as he fumbled for an answer, though his gaze strayed back to the table time and again. “I just wanted to ask if you’d have lunch with me.” He gave her a charming smile and looked deep into her eyes, making it very clear that the others were not invited.

“You have impeccable timing, seeing as it is lunch time, and all.” Buffy jumped up from her seat and started towards the doors with Ford in tow.

“What were you guys doing, anyway?” Ford wondered as he held the door while Buffy walked through, looking back towards the table with eyebrows raised in curiosity. The doors closed before they could hear Buffy’s answer, but they could hear the sound of two friends laughing, so it was probably okay. Puck looked over at Willow, she was watching the library doors with a pensive frown on her face, absently tapping her finger against the spine of the thick book she was holding.

“Hey, Will, how about we blow this joint and get some food?” Puck said as he tossed the book he’d been reading back on the table. The book slid across the polished surface and fell off the other side right into Xander’s lap. The unexpected disturbance seemed to wake the boy from his deep trance and he looked up with a little shake of his head.

“Did someone mention food? Hey! Where’d Buffy go?” Willow turned her frown on Xander but didn’t say anything. She just took the book from his limp fingers with a little shake of her head.

“Really, Xander?” Willow raised one eyebrow so high it almost disappeared in her hairline, Xander crossed his arms over his chest in a defensive gesture.

“What?” Xander squeaked and leaned back in his chair, away from Willow. She just shook her head and put Xander’s discarded book in a pile on her other side, as far away from Xander as she could.

“So, are we going to lunch or not?” Puck was getting a little impatient – not to mention hungry – while his friends were arguing, without really arguing, over a boring book.

“Definitely,” Xander answered as he stood from his chair and rushed out of the library without waiting for the others.

“What’s with him?” Puck wanted to know as he waited for Willow to get her stuff together.

“Nothing – he was just looking at woodcarvings of naked witches; I think he was a little embarrassed,” she sighed, and put another book in her bag. Puck didn’t know why he was surprised: if demons and vampires were real, why wouldn’t witches be too? But he had to ask, anyway, just to be sure.

“Witches are real too? Like Harry Potter?”

“No, not like Harry Potter! But yes, witches are real.”

~*~*~*~

** End of Chapter Nine **

~*~*~*~


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